The presence of pesticide residues has become one of the main risk factors affecting the safety and quality of agro-food. In this study, a multi-residue method for the analysis of 284 pesticides in five local fruit cultivars in Shanghai was developed based on ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-fight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF/MS). The limits of determination and the limits of quantitation of pesticides were 0.6–10 and 2–30 µg/kg, respectively. A total of 44, 10, 10, 18, and 7 pesticides were detected in strawberries, watermelons, melons, peaches, and grapes, respectively. The pesticide levels in 95.0% of the samples were below the maximum residual limits (MRLs) prescribed by China, and in 66.2% of the samples below the EU MRLs. The dietary risk assessment study showed big differences in the chronic and acute exposure risk values among different Chinese consumer groups. Through fruit consumption, children/females showed higher exposure risks than adults/males. But both the risk values were less than 100%, indicating that potential dietary risk induced by the pesticides was not significant for Chinese consumers. Nevertheless, certain measures are needed for both growers and government in order to decrease the MRL-exceeding rate of pesticide residues and ensure the quality and safety of fruits for consumers.

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No competing interests reported.
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
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Posted 10 Mar, 2021
On 05 Apr, 2021
Received 02 Apr, 2021
On 20 Mar, 2021
Invitations sent on 19 Mar, 2021
On 15 Mar, 2021
On 04 Mar, 2021
On 03 Mar, 2021
On 22 Feb, 2021
Posted 10 Mar, 2021
On 05 Apr, 2021
Received 02 Apr, 2021
On 20 Mar, 2021
Invitations sent on 19 Mar, 2021
On 15 Mar, 2021
On 04 Mar, 2021
On 03 Mar, 2021
On 22 Feb, 2021
The presence of pesticide residues has become one of the main risk factors affecting the safety and quality of agro-food. In this study, a multi-residue method for the analysis of 284 pesticides in five local fruit cultivars in Shanghai was developed based on ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-fight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF/MS). The limits of determination and the limits of quantitation of pesticides were 0.6–10 and 2–30 µg/kg, respectively. A total of 44, 10, 10, 18, and 7 pesticides were detected in strawberries, watermelons, melons, peaches, and grapes, respectively. The pesticide levels in 95.0% of the samples were below the maximum residual limits (MRLs) prescribed by China, and in 66.2% of the samples below the EU MRLs. The dietary risk assessment study showed big differences in the chronic and acute exposure risk values among different Chinese consumer groups. Through fruit consumption, children/females showed higher exposure risks than adults/males. But both the risk values were less than 100%, indicating that potential dietary risk induced by the pesticides was not significant for Chinese consumers. Nevertheless, certain measures are needed for both growers and government in order to decrease the MRL-exceeding rate of pesticide residues and ensure the quality and safety of fruits for consumers.

Figure 1

Figure 2
No competing interests reported.
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
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