Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology B 5 (2015) 530-536 doi: 10.17265/2161-6264/2015.08.003 Evaluation of Pesticide Residues in Mango by a Multi-residue Analysis and GC/MS Triple Quadrupole Claudia Helena Pastor Ciscato 1 , Kumi Shiota Ozawa 2 , Claudia Maria Barbosa 1 and Amir Bertoni Gebara 1 1. Instituto Biológico, Laboratório de Resíduos de Pesticidas, 1252 Avenida Conselheiro Rodrigues Alves, 3rd Floor, São Paulo/SP, Brazil 2. Agilent Technologies, 1142 Araguaia Ave., 1st Floor, Barueri/SP, Brazil Abstract: Mango fruit has a great national and international market, and Brazilian production is 1,900 thousand tons/year exporting to North America and Europe. However, the loss could occur during the production when it is affected by pests and climate conditions, so the increased use of chemical substances and their presence should be monitored. A task for governmental agencies, producers and food sales, attending the sanitary barriers requirements, is to distribute food free from contaminants, so laboratories involved in this type of work usually employ multi-residues analysis. The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of pesticide residues in mango using QuEChERS method and mass spectrometry technique. Positive samples were compared with Brazilian maximum residues level (MRL) and the health risk exposure was evaluated using the acute dietary intake (ADI) parameter. A total of 20 samples were collected from January to March, in Sao Paulo city markets. The recoveries were in the range of 70% to 120%, and standard deviation was below 20%. The category of pesticides not permitted for the crop were found in 10 samples; eight samples presented pesticides below MRL and two samples above MRL for the fungicide procloraz. The ADI values were below 20% of ADI for an adult and the worst case was dimethoate with 69% of ADI for children. The time spent in monitoring studies and the viability of method chosen must be considered by pesticide residues laboratories during routine analysis of food quality control. Key words: ADI, risk exposure, mango, monitoring, multi-residue, QuEChERS, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). 1. Introduction Brazil is one of the great fruits producers, and exports them for all over the world. The climate condition of the country is favorable to produce fruits, like banana, melon, papaya, passion fruit and pineapple; mango is the one that has increasing consumption and consequently its production. Among the many variety of this fruit, Tommy Atkins is the favorite for exporting due to its appearance and resistance for long journeys. National data showed that Brazil exports 14% of the mango production to USA and 33% to European Community (EC). Although United States being a potential importer, they are not the main buyer of Brazilian fruit, because in most of the cases, it is hindered by sanitary and legislative barriers established by that country [1], like Corresponding author: Claudia Helena Pastor Ciscato, Ph.D., research field: pesticide residues. pesticide residues contamination [2]. Europe is one of main buyer of Brazilian product, importing about 63% of total Brazilian fruit. Furthermore, Brazil stands out as the biggest supplier of mango, papaya and melon for European Union (EU). Brazil places the 2nd in the pesticide usage during food production. Therefore, pesticide residues monitoring analysis should be developed to guarantee the food quality control. The governmental and private laboratories involved in this type of work usually employ multi-residues analysis. Monitoring programs developed in Brazil demonstrated that mango could be contaminated mainly by organophosphorus insecticides and fungicides. It is well known that organophosphorus compounds have a very low acute dietary intake (ADI), being a parameter which could be evaluated D DAVID PUBLISHING