Page 135 - congress

ORAL PRESENTATION / SÖZLÜ SUNUM

Investigation of Some Neonicotinoids in Honey by LC-MS/MS

Halil ERGÜN 1,* Levent ALTINTAŞ
2

1 Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Veterinary Control Central
Research Institute, Department of Toxicology, Ankara, TÜRKIYE

2 Ankara University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and

Toxicology, Ankara, TÜRKIYE

*Correspound Author: hergun84@msn.com

Honey is a natural substance that is susceptible to contamination by environmental

pollutants. The presence of contaminants in honey is an indicator of environmental pollution.

Furthermore, it may pose risks to consumer health. This research aimed to optimise a
method for the detection of residual quantities of the pesticides acetamiprid (ACE),

clothianidin (CLO), imidacloprid (IMI), thiamethoxam (TMX) and thiacloprid (THI) in honey,
and subsequently to apply this optimised method to an investigation into the prevalence of

neonicotinoidal contamination. The QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, robust and
safe) method, in conjunction with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass

spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), was employed for the determination of five neonicotinoid in

honey. The method was optimized and validated in accordance with European Commission
guidelines (2002/657/EC). The method demonstrated a linear correlation with R² values

exceeding 0.99 for all investigated compounds. Mean recoveries ranged between 70% and
110% (99% on average), and relative standard deviations (RSDs) were generally below 20%.

The method's CCα (decision limit) and CCβ (detection capability) both ranged from 5 to 20
ng/g and 5-21 ng/g, respectively. Following method validation, the concentrations of IMI,

ACE, TMX, CLO, and THI in all honey samples (flower, pine, and chestnut honey) available for
retail in Ankara, Türkiye were determined to be ˂LOD based on the analytical results. It was

concluded that the proposed method is usable and advantageous because it is effective,
reliable, sensitive, and reproducible and can be used for the simultaneous analysis of more

than one analyte in a short time using a few reagents.

Keywords: Honey, LC-MS/MS, Neonicotinoid, Residue, Validation.

132