Simultaneous multidetermination of residues of pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in olive and olive-pomace oils by gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

A multiresidue method for determining major pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in olive oils in a single injection by use of gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) is proposed. Samples are previously extracted with an acetonitrile/n-hexane mixture and cleaned up by gel permeation chromatography. Electron ionization and chemical ionization allow pesticides and PAHs to be determined in a single analysis. The precision obtained was quite satisfactory (relative standard deviations ranged from 3 to 7.8%), and so were recoveries (84–110%). The linear relation was observed from 1 to 500 μg/kg for pesticides and 0.3 to 200 μg/kg for PAHs; also, the determination coefficient, R2, was better than 0.995 in all instances. The proposed method was applied to the routine analysis of PAH and pesticide residues in virgin and refined olive oil and olive-pomace oil samples.