A method for the determination of 70 pesticides in extra virgin olive oil based on a limited-volume solvent extraction step prior to comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

The goal of the present research was to develop a method based on a miniaturized solvent extraction step (using only 500 μL of acetonitrile, with no further clean-up or concentration processes) prior to cryogenic-modulation comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of seventy pesticides in extra virgin olive oil, exploiting the enhanced specificity and sensitivity of this technique. Limits of quantification were always below European legislation residue limits, intra-day precision was between 0.3 and 4.9% (at the 50 and 100 μg kg -1 concentration levels), inter-day precision was between 1.6 and 6.1% (at the 100 μg kg -1 concentration level), recovery (at the 20, 50, and 100 μg kg -1 concentration levels) was in the 14-120% range, accuracy at the initial stage of the work (within repeatability conditions) was between 79 and 110%, while accuracy after 3 months (within intermediate precision conditions) was between 91 and 121% (at the 50 and 100 μg kg -1 concentration levels). Finally, the matrix effect was always positive, between 16 and 197%. The method was applied to the investigation of twenty samples, and eleven of these were found to be contaminated.