scope:

This European Standard gives general considerations for the determination of pesticide residues in foods of plant origin. Each method specified in this European Standard is suitable for identifying and quantifying a definite range of those organohalogen, and/or organophosphorus and/or organonitrogen pesticides which occur as residues in foodstuffs of plant origin. This European Standard contains the following methods that have been subjected to interlaboratory studies and/or are adopted throughout Europe: - method M: Extraction with acetone and liquid-liquid partition with dichloromethane/light petroleum, if necessary clean-up on Florisil® 1) [1], [2], [3]; - method N: Extraction with acetone, liquid-liquid partition with dichloromethane or cyclohexane/ethyl acetate and clean-up with gel permeation and silica gel chromatography [4], [5]; - method P: Extraction with ethyl acetate and, if necessary, clean-up with gel permeation chromatography [6]. The applicability of the three methods M, N and P for residue analysis of organohalogen, organophosphorus and organonitrogen pesticides, respectively, is given for each method.