The consumption of health foods using herbal medicines and other plant materials is growing, particularly in the U.S. and Europe. As a result, the focus of measurement is expanding beyond fresh foods to include processed foods and supplements, and the development of analysis methods for residual pesticides in these foods is advancing. However, processed foods as well as health foods contain many more contaminants than typical fresh foods. In addition, there are issues with sample pretreatment for extraction/cleanup processes and achieving high-accuracy analysis for health foods. Further, in emerging nations which have become countries of origin for ordinary fresh foods thanks to the expanded internationalization of food circulation, there is a strong need for both high-accuracy and easy residual pesticide analysis.
In order to meet these needs, Shimadzu has developed Smart Pesticides Database Ver. 2. This database provides support for pesticides used outside of Japan and enables high-accuracy analysis, even for samples containing many contaminants. At SSI, measures have been taken to strengthen cooperation with the North American Chemical Residue Workshop (NACRW), the Association of Analytical Communities (AOAC) and other academic societies involved in pesticide analysis. Through these activities, SSI is evaluating new test methods for health foods using plant materials. In terms of test methods, as the use of triple quadrupole GC-MS systems is specified, it is expected that this newly developed database will contribute to the evaluation of new test methods. In addition to information on triple quadrupole GC-MS systems, this database contains information on single quadrupole GC-MS, enabling a lower cost option for emerging nations where there is a strong need for residual pesticide analysis.
