Pesticide Residue Analysis

Pesticide residue testing addresses agrochemical contamination that may arise from cultivation practice or from environmental contamination at wild-collection sites, and is required to demonstrate compliance with WHO and Codex Alimentarius maximum residue limits. Organochlorine pesticide residues are conventionally analysed by gas chromatography with electron capture detection, organophosphate residues by gas chromatography with flame photometric detection, and the broader modern pesticide panel, including pyrethroids and newer agrochemical classes, by gas chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, offering the sensitivity and selectivity required to detect residues at the low parts-per-billion levels specified by contemporary regulatory limits. Sample preparation for multi-residue pesticide screening increasingly employs the QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe) extraction methodology, which achieves acceptable recovery across a broad range of pesticide chemical classes from the complex herbal matrix while remaining compatible with high-throughput laboratory workflows.