Determination of pesticide residues in tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicon L.) by SPME and GC-MS

The most widely used agricultural pesticides were developed in the mid-19th century. However, their pesticide properties were only discovered in the 20th century, in 1939. During the Second World War, they were used to prevent the spread of diseases caused by insects. The sanitary quality of food concerns food safety, that is, the absence of harmful substances, such as toxins, pathogens, pesticide residues and chemical contaminants. Ensuring adequate hygiene practices during the production, processing and handling of food is essential to avoid health risks. The techniques used to identify and quantify residues in different matrices are gas chromatography (GC) or liquid chromatography (LC) together with mass spectrometry (MS) as they are established for the identification of substances in the most diverse environments, such as industrial, forensic and environmental. Pesticide residues in tomatoes were determined using the solid phase microextraction (SPME) technique and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS).