Standardization of an analytical technique for determination of pesticide residues in fresh and processed button mushroom Agaricus bisporus (Lange) Imbach

An efficient modified QuEChERS procedure was established for the simultaneous determination of 37 pesticide residues in fresh and processed edible button mushroom by employing GC/ GC-MS and LC-MS/MS. The effectiveness, reliability and accuracy of the method were assessed through validation parameters such as linearity, LOD, LOQ, precision, accuracy, uncertainty, and matrix effect. The linearity calibration for all the selected pesticides at standard concentrations (0.003, 0.01, 0.025, 0.05, 0.075, and 0.1 µg mL^{- 1}) obtained were ≥ 0.970 in both GC and LC-MS/MS. The LOD and LOQ values were 0.003 and 0.01 µg g^{- 1}, respectively. The recoveries obtained in the spiking level of 0.01-0.1 µg g^{- 1} were in the acceptable range (71.69 to 117.90%) with RSD less than 20%. Matrix effect and uncertainty for all target compounds were in the acceptable range. Monitoring of edible button mushroom samples collected from market revealed the presence of cypermethrin residues in four out of 25 fresh button mushroom samples and no detectable residues were found in processed mushroom products tested. Dietary risk assessement was calculated to the detected cypermethrin in the fresh button mushroom samples and RQ value obtained was <1, where risk is acceptable.