Potential of a simple mechanical extraction system for the rapid extraction of pesticides from foodstuffs. Application to the determination of organochlorine pesticides in lettuce.

The efficiency of a simple mechanical extraction system as applied in veterinary drug analysis has been tested in the field of pesticide residue analysis. As a first application, the system was used for the extraction of organochlorine pesticides from vegetables. The convenience of this simple extraction system consists of performing mechanical extraction in disposable polyethylene-based extraction bags, reducing considerably manual operation and cross-contamination. For the tested compounds and matrix (lettuce), recoveries of the 10 organochlorine pesticides performed at two spiking levels (n = 4 each level and compound) ranging between 0.06 and 3.3 mg/kg were between 60 and 80%, with most standard deviations <5%. The extraction method appeared to be simple and fast with a great potential for the analysis of many pesticide-matrix combinations.