We evaluated an analytical method to detect pesticide residues in agricultural products through the use of a self-cleaning ion source GC-MS/MS. The self-cleaning ion source minimizes ion source contamination by ensuring that hydrogen is pumped into the source at a fixed pressure after or during measurement. When we employed our self-cleaning ion source GC-MS/MS technique to analyze pesticides residues in agricultural products, we observed that pollution of the ion source surface was considerably reduced. Good peak sensitivity was obtained for 251 pesticides, and a calibration curve with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.990 or higher was obtained for 253 pesticides. In the recovery test with 6 types of agricultural products, the acceptability criteria of recovery (70-120%) and standard deviation of repeatability (RSD<25%) was met in 180-221 pesticides.
Keywords: GC-MS/MS; pesticide residue; self cleaning ion source.