Residue and dietary risk assessment of sixteen pesticides in sorghum by UHPLC-MS/MS

Although pesticides play a critical role in sorghum cultivation, their residual presence poses significant risks to human health. A rapid and sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS method was developed for the simultaneous determination of residues from 11 fungicides, 3 herbicides, and 2 insecticides in sorghum. The three key phases of the QuEChERS method-extraction, salting-out, and clean-up-were systematically optimized using a three-stage approach with blank matrix controls. The method showed good recovery (82-107%) at three spiked levels (0.001, 0.01, 0.1 mg/kg) with relative standard deviations (RSD) below 18.8%, and the limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.001 mg/kg. Three insecticides (chlorantraniliprole, clothianidin, and imidacloprid) and two fungicides (azoxystrobin and tebuconazole) were detected in the 38 sorghum samples, with concentrations ranging from <0.001 to 0.6409 mg/kg. Moreover, the dietary risk assessment results showed that the chronic hazard quotient (HQc) for pesticide residues in sorghum was 0.00003-0.04051%, well below 1. Overall, this study offers a method for monitoring pesticide residues in sorghum and a valuable reference for evaluating the safety of agricultural products. • UHPLC-MS/MS was used to determine 16 pesticides in sorghum using modified QuEChERS. • Recoveries ranged from 82 to107%, while sensitivity, as LOQ, were all 0.001 mg/kg. • Five pesticides were detected in 71% samples in the range of <0.001–0.6409 mg/kg. • Chronic hazard quotients (HQc) were well below 1, ranging from 0.00003% to 0.04051%.