Multiresidue Method for Determination of 23 Pesticides in Refined Sugar

A rapid and cost effective multiresidue GLC method has been developed for the analysis of 23 pesticides comprising organochlorines (α-HCH, β-HCH, γ-HCH, δ-HCH, p,p’-DDD, p,p’-DDE, p,p’-DDT, α-endosulfan, β-endosulfan, endosulfan sulphate), synthetic pyrethroids (bifenthrin, fenpropathrin, γ-cyhalothrin, fluvalinate, α-methrin, fenvalerate, deltamethrin), organo-phosphates (dimethoate, parathion-methyl, chlorpyriphos, malathion, ethion) and fipronil for refined sugar. The representative samples were fortified at lower and higher levels ranging ffom 10.0–54.5 ng g¹ and 40–218 ng g⁻¹ respectively. At lower and higher levels of fortification, the recoveries ranged from 82.6–100.8% and 90.7–114.1%, respectively. Based on the lower level of fortification, the limit of quantitation (LOQ) ranged between 3.80–6.78 ng g⁻¹ for organochlorines, 2.90–25.85 ng g⁻¹ for organophosphates, 1.96–32.08 ng g⁻¹ for synthetic pyrethroids and 3.95 ng g⁻¹ for fipronil. The present method being cost-effective, simple, reproducible and giving recoveries more than 82% for all the 23 pesticides, could be further tested for rhe inter laboratory validatton for monitoring of fefined sugar.