Food Safety Applications Notebook - Agricultural Chemical Contaminants

Significance of Topic

Food safety is increasingly critical in a global supply chain. Monitoring veterinary drugs, pesticides, and other chemical contaminants in food and animal feeds protects public health and meets regulatory standards. Advanced analytical workflows integrating chromatographic separation, detection, and automation enable rapid, reliable testing.

Objectives and Overview

This whitepaper presents Thermo Scientific Dionex solutions for the analysis of agricultural chemical contaminants. It reviews system portfolios for liquid chromatography (LC), ion chromatography (IC), mass spectrometry (MS), chromatography data handling, and automated sample preparation. Application examples showcase accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) to detect pesticides, drugs, and sulfonamides in diverse matrices.

Methods and Instrumentation

Key systems and modules:

• UltiMate 3000 UHPLC+ (nano to semipreparative flows, up to 1000 bar)
• Dionex ICS-5000, ICS-2100 RFIC, ICS-1600, and ICS-1100 IC systems
• MSQ Plus single-quadrupole mass spectrometer with self-cleaning ion source
• Chromeleon 7 Chromatography Data System with eWorkflows and compliance tools
• Integral™ Process Analyzers for on-line IC/LC in process control
• ASE 200/300 Accelerated Solvent Extractors for rapid, high-temperature, high-pressure extraction
• AutoTrace 280 automated SPE for organic pollutant enrichment

Sample preparation approaches:

• ASE extraction of organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides in food, delivering comparable recoveries to Soxhlet in minutes with <50 mL solvent
• SPE and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) cleanup of feed residues
• Dispersive SPE (PSA) cleanup following salting-out extraction for N-methylcarbamates in rice, potato, and corn

Main Results and Discussion

ASE enables unattended extraction of up to 24 samples in 12–20 minutes using 15–145 mL solvent, achieving recoveries of 80–115% and RSDs <10% for pesticides, veterinary drugs, and sulfonamides. Comparative studies demonstrate ASE yields 10–20% higher analyte levels than traditional shaker or Soxhlet methods. The Acclaim Carbamate column with post-column o-phthalaldehyde derivatization and fluorescence detection achieves baseline separation of eleven N-methylcarbamates with low detection limits (0.04–0.11 µg/kg).

Benefits and Practical Applications

• High throughput: dozens of samples processed unattended per day
• Reduced solvent consumption and disposal costs
• Enhanced sensitivity and selectivity via post-column derivatization and MS compatibility
• Integrated compliance, user management, and audit trails for regulated environments
• Flexible IC/LC-MS workflows for multicomponent screening

Future Trends and Opportunities

Continued integration of separation and detection technologies will support broader multi-analyte screening in food, environmental, and process control applications. Expansion of ASE cell volumes and on-line sampling will drive faster large-volume sample prep. Advances in data analytics and AI-driven eWorkflows will further streamline method development and result interpretation.

Conclusion

Thermo Scientific Dionex systems offer comprehensive, automated solutions for agricultural contaminant analysis. From rapid ASE and SPE sample prep to robust LC, IC, MS, and data handling, these workflows ensure sensitive, accurate, and high-throughput testing to safeguard food and feed quality.

References

• U.S. EPA Method 3545A: Accelerated Solvent Extraction
• Application Note 332: ASE of Pesticide Residues in Food Products
• Application Note 343: Determination of Pesticides in Large-Volume Samples
• Application Note 349: Rapid Determination of Organochlorine Pesticides in Feed
• Application Note 326: Extraction of Drugs from Animal Feeds Using ASE
• Application Note 353: Rapid Determination of Sulfonamide Residues
• Application Note 272: Determination of N-Methylcarbamates by HPLC