Determination of priority pesticides in baby foods by gas chromatography tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry

A gas chromatography–tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) method for the determination of twelve priority pesticides, and transformation products (e.g. metabolites) specified in the EU Baby Food Directive 2003/13/EC is described. Prior to GC–MS/MS analysis, co-extractives were removed from acetonitrile extracts using dispersive solid phase extraction with octadecyl (200 mg) and primary secondary amine (50 mg) sorbents. The clean up proved essential for the satisfactory long-term chromatographic performance during the analysis of a range of representative commercially pre-prepared baby food samples. Extracts spiked with pesticides at 1–8 μg kg−1, yielded average recoveries in the range 60–113% with relative standard deviations less than 28%.