Suspect screening of pesticide co-formulants in fruits, vegetables and leaves by liquid and gas chromatography coupled to high resolution mass accuracy spectrometry: Potential impact on human health.

[Display omitted] • LC and GC-HRMS were used to detect co-formulants present in PPPs in food. • Suspect analysis allowed the tentative identification of 37 co-formulants. • Twenty one co-formulants were quantified in fruits, vegetables and leaves. • 1-Ethyl-2-pyrrolidone was identified in all samples and at high concentrations. • Some compounds were declared as unsuitable co-formulants because their toxicity. Vegetables can contain co-formulants derived from the use of plant protection products (PPPs) in crops. Thus, in the current study co-formulants were determined in different fruits and vegetables and their leaves by gas and liquid chromatography coupled to Q-Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-Q-Orbitrap and LC-Q-Orbitrap-MS). A total of 37 co-formulants were tentatively identified, and among them, 12 compounds were quantified by LC-Q-Orbitrap-MS and 9 by GC-Q-Orbitrap-MS. The mean co-formulant levels in fruit and vegetable samples was 92% lower than in leaf samples. Selected samples showed a high concentration of 1-ethyl-2-pyrrolidone among the co-formulants detected. This compound ranged from 22 µg/kg (strawberry) to 722 µg/kg (red grape), whereas in the case of leaves, its concentration was up to 6513 µg/kg in cucumber leaf. In addition, it has an LD 50 equal to 1.440 g/kg. Therefore, this type of PPP co-formulants should be controlled in fruits and vegetables to avoid adverse health effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]