[The preparation of food and environmental samples for residue analysis of pesticides and PCBs by continuous steam distillation].

The treatment of water, soil and food samples was tested with a modified equipment of glass for simultaneous steam distillation/solvent extraction. Spiked samples with 22 pesticides (most of them contained halogen) and PCB yielded good or very good recoveries after 1.5 h for water samples and after 5 h for soil and plant food samples, respectively. This method is ecologically beneficial, and because it needs only a small amount of solvent (less than 10 ml) it is not expensive and may be used as a quick screening in several fields.