Uso da espectrometria de massa sequencial para avaliar resíduos de agrotóxicos em amostras de alimentação animal

Animal feed (AF) has been identified as one of the sources of pesticide contamination in milk and meat and, thus, many countries have established maximum residual limits (MRL) for the-se matrices based on the Codex Alimentarius recomendations. Brazilian legislation concerns 23 different chemical and agronomical classes in feed and cereals, without discriminating if they are to be consumed by humans or animals.This study aims at evaluating the suitability of the QuEChERS method for the analytical de-termination of pesticide residues in corn and soy. These cereals are the main raw materials of AF used to feed bovine. 172 pesticides belonging to different chemical and agronomical classes were studied using high performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. The following parameters were studied: selectivity, matrix effect, recovery, repetitivity and limits of detection and quantification. The tests performed demonstrated that the QuE-ChERS method is suitable for the determination of 140 of the total pesticides studied.