EVOLUCIÓN DE LOS RESIDUOS DE PLAGUICIDAS EN FRUTAS CÍTRICAS FRESCAS. INCIDENCIA SOBRE LOS JUGOS CÍTRICOS CONCENTRADOS

[EN] The Argentine Republic deploys a continuous growth of the citrus sector, both in fresh and processed fruits. The Argentine Citrus Federation reported an estimated total volume of 1,130,074 t of orange production in 2012. Entre Rios is the main orange producer province with 46% of the national production. Citrus production yield is affected by harmful organisms. Thus, protecting the plants to avoid yield decrease or product damage is of utmost importance. Furthermore, harvested product quality, as well as a higher farm productivity, must be ensured. Phytosanitary products are used in pre and post harvest treatments to control citrus fruit and plant diseases. Since these pesticides penetrate plant tissues, residues may be found in fresh produce as well as in products processed from these fruits. As the occurrence of phytosanitary products in food products is a risk for human health due to their toxicity it is important to control residues. This is a primary objective for whole fruit and juice concentrates. The optimization of adequate pesticide extraction, identification and quantification methods in different matrices allow the control of phytosanitary products. Due to the fact that many agrochemicals are used during field production and in the packing plant, this control is an important quality parameter to be examined when fruits are marketed, both as fresh produce and in fruit that will be shipped to the industry to be used as raw material. The objective of this study is to establish a correlation between levels of initial residues in fruits entering the plant and pesticide residue levels in orange juice concentrates. In order to reach this objective, analytical methodologies to determine chlorpyrifos, carbendazim, prochloraz and thiabendazole were validated by solid phase extraction and gas liquid chromatography tandem methods based on single and triple quadrupole were used for detection and quantification. Results for both matrices showed linear, accurate, highly precise and sensitive methods. Quantification limits for whole fruit were 0,050mg/kg chlorpyrifos, 0,10mg/kg para prochloraz and 0,010mg/kg carbendazim and thiabendazole. Quantification limits in juice concentrate were 0,010mg/kg for chlorpyrifos, carbendazim, prochloraz and thiabendazole. Calibration for real samples was performed on samples added with in order to include the matrix effect. Assessed residue values in fruit samples entering the processing plant were 1,46 mg/kg prochloraz, 0,076 mg/kg chlorpyrifos, 0,10 mg/kg carbendazim and 0,29 thiabendazole; while juice concentrate samples showed the following values: 0,36 mg/kg prochloraz, 0,033 mg/kg carbendazim and 0,167 mg/kg thiabendazole. No chlorpyrifos residues were detected. The methodology developed and applied in this study showed results that allow the correlation between residue levels initially detected in fresh fruit and those found in juice concentrates. To conclude, it is of utmost importance to perform controls of fruit entering the processing plant in order to detect…