The analysis of pesticide residues in food is nowadays an increasingly important task. Quality control has to be very strict in order to safeguard the consumers’ health. One of the most important goals of food quality assurance is testing food for residues and contaminants. Among chemical hazards, the contamination of food with pesticides has been characterized as a significant source of many serious diseases. Consumption of food containing pesticide residues may cause cancer, malformations, and damage to the endocrine, nervous, and immune system. In order to assure human food safety, The European Community has established maximum residue limits (MRL) of pesticides permitted in products of animal or vegetable origin that are intended for human consumption. In the EU, Regulation (EC) No. 396/2005 of the European Parliament and Council on pesticide residues established the levels of pesticide residues allowed in food and feed. To ensure the compliance of marketed food commodities with the law on food safety, sensitive and reliable analytical methods for the determination of pesticide residues are required. Multiresidue liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry methods (LC-MS) are widely recognized as an ideal, highly specific, and extremely sensitive technique for testing food products. This review discusses LC-MS approaches applied most widely to pesticide residue analysis over the last few years. The main ionization methods and MS detectors used as analytical tools in quantification and/or identification/confirmation of pesticide residues in food are presented.

The aim of the research is to evaluate pesticide residue contamination of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, agricultural raw material, purchased from Polish farmers for production of frozen fruits and vegetables, and the estimation of the multiresidue method effectiveness expressed as the proportion of pesticides detected in food samples to the total number of pesticides analyzed by multiresidue methods. A total of 144 samples (of black currants, red currants, raspberries, cherries, strawberries, blackberries, cauliflowers and broccoli) were analyzed using LC-MS/MS method for the determination of 60 pesticides. QuEChERS extraction, matrix-matched calibration and dynamic multiple reaction monitoring method were used. Residues of 15 compounds, mainly fungicides and insecticides, were detected in 46 samples. The percentage of samples with residues above the maximum residue levels (MRL) was 15%, whereas samples with residues below MRL were 17%. A total of 13 samples contained more than one pesticide residue. Pesticide residues were detected most often in samples of black currants (50%), broccoli (36.4%), raspberries (29%) and red currants (21.8%). The most frequently detected pesticides were carbendazim and acetamiprid. The proportion of pesticides detected during our study to the total number of analyzed pesticides amounted to 25%. It was compared to literature findings. For three fourth of multiresidue methods, the proportion was below 50% for methods developed for the analysis of less than 100 pesticides, and below 30% for methods developed for the analysis of more than 100 pesticides. It appears that a lot of efforts and means is lost on pesticides never or rarely detected in examined samples. The workload and cost effectiveness of the development and application of multiresidue methods along with the range of pesticides covered by the method should be carefully and thoroughly considered anytime when a new method or workflow is developed. Including non-targeted screenings in pesticide residue control seems to be an alternative worth considering.

Patulin is a mycotoxin that exhibits a number of toxic effects in animals. The main sources of patulin intake in human diet that was shown for EU consumers are apple juice and nectar and for this reason, apple-based food is most often monitored for this mycotoxin. However, the presence of patulin in other fruits, including stone fruits, and soft fruits has been reported as well. Most of them are seasonal, suitable for consumption for short time, and are usually processed in order to be commercially available throughout the year. Patulin can also be generated during food storage and remains stable over food processing procedures. Therefore, constant monitoring of different fruit-based products ought to be carried out to provide proper estimation of human exposure to this toxin. The preferred approach used for mycotoxin determination in a variety of foods is liquid chromatography (LC) allowing quantitative analysis of patulin content. This paper presents recently proposed LC methods with ultraviolet and mass spectrometric detection for patulin quantification in fruits and derived products. We focus on developments in sample preparation and the applied analytical conditions.

A suitable and balanced diet is a major factor determining human health and should comprise unprocessed food enriched with oilseed products containing bioactive components and fatty acids. This paper reviews the chemical compositions and biomedical functions of plant seed oils extracted from black cumin, evening primrose, hemp, milk thistle, sesame, flax, and pumpkin seeds. The review provides a comprehensive overview of current oil extracting techniques and of the composition and content of bioactive components, including fatty acids, phytosterols, tocopherols, phenols, and carotenoids. Moreover, we describe research findings on the medical applications, benefits and limitations of treatment with plant seed oils for diverse diseases such as mastalgia, premenstrual syndrome, menopause, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cancer, and urinary tract and liver disease, as well as their use in dermatology and chemotherapy. The use of plant seed oils as topical agents and their anti-bacterial properties are reviewed, as well as important precautions in their medical applications. The information provided in this review is intended to serve as a compendium for medical professionals in the field of integrative medicine, nutrition, and dietetics, and to help consumers make the best use of plant seed oils in accordance with their medical and health needs. The review is also addressed to food control laboratories, as it provides detailed tabularised data on the components and their contents in the above-mentioned seven plant seed oils. These data are highly useful for the development of new analytical methods for testing the quality and authenticity of oils.