Decline patterns and risk assessment of 10 multi-class pesticides in young sprout amaranth (Amaranthus mangostanus) under greenhouse growing conditions

The present study was designed to investigate the residual decline pattern and the risk assessment of 10 different class pesticides, namely azoxystrobin, boscalid, diazinon, diethofencarb, difenoconazole, etofenprox, flubendiamide, paclobutrazol, and pyraclostrobin in young vegetative amaranth (Amaranthus mangostanus) sprayed once or twice under greenhouse growing conditions. Field-incurred samples, collected at 3, 7, or 10 days after application of both treatments, were extracted and purified with the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe “QuEChERS” citrate-buffered method and analyzed with liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in positive ion mode. The linearity was satisfactory with determination coefficients (R ²) falling between 0.9817 and 0.9999 and limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) values of 0.0007 and 0.002 mg/kg, respectively. The mean recovery rate at four spiking levels (equivalent to 5, 10, 50, and 100 × LOQ) ranged from 78.1 to 131.6% with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of < 11%. Substantial differences in the initial deposit between the tested analytes were observed and clearly indicated that the structure, as well as the initial concentration of applied products, greatly affected the residue deposit. From the obtained residual data, the provisional marginal maximum residue limits (MRLs) and the pre-harvest intervals (PHI) were proposed. Risk assessment was evaluated by comparing the theoretical maximum daily intake (TMDI) with the acceptable daily intake (ADI). Herein, the TMDI was lower than the ADI (TMDI/ADI ratio ≤ 80% set by the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety) except for difenoconazole (80.92%, marginally higher), indicating that the vegetative amaranth is not hazardous and can be consumed safely by Korean consumers.