Pesticide residues in fresh-cut vegetables from integrated pest management by ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry

A multi residue method based on the modified Quick Easy Cheap Effective Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) sample preparation method and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) was adopted for the analysis of 14 pesticides in 145 vegetable samples from the intensive Sele agricultural plain in south west region of Campania, Italy, tilled by integrated pest management practices and destined to refurnish the Italian fresh cut commercial market. In 51.7% of the samples no residues were found, 41.4% of samples contained pesticide residues at or below the maximum residue level (MRL) and 2.1% of samples contained pesticide residues above MRL. Significant was also the proportion of samples, 4.8%, containing no authorized products due to incorrect agricultural practices. This was the case of Etofenprox and Dimethomorph used at levels above the MRLs. Propamocarb, cyprodinil, and boscalid were the pesticides most frequently found and were detected in 10% of the samples analysed. The application of an index of quality for residues to the analysis of data revealed that most of the analysed samples fall into the category range of excellent-good highlighting the adequacy of the products to the fresh cut market.