Multiresidue analysis of pesticides in agricultural products by GC/MS coupled with database software

We evaluated a multiresidue method for determination of pesticides in agricultural products by SCAN mode GC/MS coupled with three kinds of database for 253 pesticides: relative retention time, mass spectra and calibration curve (SCAN method). Twenty-six pesticides, a total of 131 pesticides were detected in samples by the SCAN method. The detection results agreed closely with those of the SIM mode GC/MS method using calibration standards (SIM method). The ratios of the SCAN method to the SIM method ranged from 0.3 to 3.1 with SD values of 0.63. It was judged that the SCAN method could be applied to the screening analysis of pesticide residues in agricultural products, provided that the sample preparation method makes it possible to effectively remove sample matrixes with minimal loss of analytes.