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Although systems for growing, production, and sale of cannabis and cannabis related products are well established, regulation and enforcement of quality and safety testing have lagged behind. However, state governments and private laboratories are focusing on product safety testing with special emphasis on pesticide analysis. This focus is partially the result of various product recalls, media attention, and concern from patient advocacy groups. We evaluated a modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) sample preparation method followed by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) for the analysis of multiresidue pesticides. The Association of Analytical Communities International (AOAC) QuEChERS method was used for a reduced 1.5-g amount of plant material and processed with a universal dispersive solid-phase extraction (dSPE) formulation. LC–MS/MS analysis used constant polarity switching electrospray ionization (ESI) and monitored at least two transitions per analyte. Matrix-matched calibration was used for quantitation and both method and instrument internal standards were used. Analyte recovery validation was performed according to the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) guidelines by testing three matrices at three fortification levels in triplicate for more than 200 pesticides. For the large majority of pesticides, in all three matrices and at all three fortification levels, recovery was 70-120%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent establishment of a 1 μg/g safety threshold for melamine in infant foods has led to an immediate need for more sensitive methods. Here we established GC-MS conditions for highly reproducible analyses and evaluated the effectiveness of both solvent-based and matrix-matched standards. Using this method, melamine and cyanuric acid were reliably detected at and below 1 μg/g in infant formula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study that investigated the use of split injection in analysis of semivolatile environmental pollutants. Topics covered include the calibration performance of compounds analyzed such as hexachloroethane, nitrobenzene and chrysene, the failure of the three highest concentration calibration standards to pass the resolution criterion, and the advantage of using split injection with a sensitive mass spectrometry (MS) detector and highly inert analytical column.

The article offers information on several techniques including gas chromatography, liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry which are used for monitoring pesticide residue in foods. It mentions that the pesticide residue can be extracted effectively from fruits and vegetables with the help of QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe) method. It presents figures describing the total ion chromatogram (TIC) contour plots for grape and lemon QuEChERS extracts.

The article highlights the use of GCxGC (gas chromatography) with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) to analyzed peppermint oil containing various levels of WS-3, N-ethyl-5-methyl-1-2-(1-methylethyl)-cyclohexa-necarboxamide, a physiological cooling agent used in a variety of consumer products. Samples were diluted by 10 times with acetone prior to GCxGC-TOFMS analysis to minimize chromatographic overload. The ChromaTOF software of LECO Corp., provides the analysis of the GCxGC-TOFMS data.