Monitoring of seven pesticide residues by LC-MS/MS in extra virgin olive oil samples and risk assessment for consumers

Residue levels of seven pesticides were analyzed in thirty-five samples of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to assess the health risk of consuming Italian oils correlated with the presence of these pesticides. An in-house analytical procedure was developed and validated, consisting of a specific dispersive solid-phase extraction using the QuEChERS technique and a qualitative-quantitative analysis using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. Thirty-four percent of the samples were contaminated with pesticide residues; in the concentration range of 0.53–0.56 ng/mL for imazalil, 1.11–1.56 ng/mL for acetamiprid-N-desmethyl, 1.28–1.46 ng/mL for clothianidin, 0.94–1.49 ng/mL for thiacloprid, 1.08–4.64 ng/mL for dinotefuran, 0.42–1.47 ng/mL for thiamethoxam, 0.42–6.14 ng/mL for imidacloprid). Risk assessment was evaluated using the hazard quotient, hazard index, and Pesticide Residue Intake Model by EFSA. All hazard indices confirmed that the concentrations of pesticides detected in the oil samples did not represent a short or long-term risk for consumers’ health.