Stability of Sodium Chlorate Residues in Frozen Tomato and Cantaloupe Homogenates.

The objective of this study was to determine the stability of sodium chlorate in frozen (-24 °C) tomato or cantaloupe homogenates for up to 17 weeks (119 days). Chlorate stability was assessed by ultraperformance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) at two fortification levels (80 or 600 ng/g for tomato and 200 or 3000 ng/g for cantaloupe, n = 3 each) for each fruit after storage for 0, 1, 7, 14, 28, 56, or 119 d. Within matrix type, chlorate recovery was determined by fortifying duplicate blank homogenate samples on the day of analysis with the same concentrations used for the stability samples. Chlorate limits of quantitation for cantaloupe and tomato matrices were 30 and 60 ng/g, respectively. Sodium chlorate residues were stable (P > 0.05) in frozen tomato and cantaloupe homogenates during storage for 119 days at -24 °C.