Kenan Kara

Pesticides are widely used in grape production to control pests and diseases, protect yield, and maintain commercial quality. This study investigated pesticide residues in fresh table grapes collected from Salihli, Alaşehir, and Sarıgöl (Manisa Province, Türkiye). A multiresidue QuEChERS-LC–MS/MS method was applied, covering 260 active substances across different pesticide classes (insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, acaricides, and nematicides). In total, 54 grape samples were analyzed. At least one pesticide residue was detected in every sample. Two different pesticides were found in 5 samples, while three or more pesticides were identified in 43 samples, indicating frequent co-occurrence of multiple residues. Overall, 32 different active substances were detected. The insecticides identified included acetamiprid, buprofezin, chlorantraniliprole, lambda-cyhalothrin, deltamethrin, flubendiamide, indoxacarb, methoxyfenozide, and tebufenozide. The fungicides identified included ametoctradin, azoxystrobin, boscalid, bupirimate, cymoxanil, cyprodinil, difenoconazole, dimethomorph, famoxadone, fluopicolide, fluopyram, kresoxim-methyl, mandipropamid, metalaxyl-M, metrafenone, myclobutanil, penconazole, pyrimethanil, spiroxamine, tetraconazole, tebuconazole, triadimenol, and trifloxystrobin. Residue concentrations were evaluated against the European Union maximum residue limits (EU-MRLs). Among 301 quantified pesticide-sample combinations, 294 results complied with EU-MRLs, while seven exceeded the corresponding legal limits. Pyrimethanil, boscalid, and cyprodinil were the most frequently detected compounds. Except for bupirimate (a fungicide), all exceedances involved insecticides, specifically acetamiprid, buprofezin, deltamethrin, and methoxyfenozide. The dietary risk assessment revealed that acetamiprid contributed the highest acute exposure, while bupirimate and famoxadone showed relatively higher chronic exposure values. These results emphasize the importance of continuous pesticide residue monitoring in table grapes, ensuring the use of only authorized plant protection products and maintaining residue levels within regulatory limits to safeguard consumer health and environmental sustainability.

This study investigates the dissipation kinetics, biodegradation, and health risk assessment of formetanate hydrochloride (FMT) in pepper under field conditions. Utilizing LC–MS/MS, the degradation behavior of FMT was analyzed, revealing significant residue reduction when bacterial strains were applied. The bacteria mix treatment exhibited the most effective residue dissipation, reducing health risks by minimizing both chronic and acute exposure. Climatic factors such as humidity and temperature significantly influenced the dissipation rates, emphasizing the need for localized residue management strategies. The study underscores the potential of microbial treatments as eco-friendly solutions for managing pesticide residues, promoting food safety, and ensuring sustainable agricultural practices. Further research should explore FMT dynamics in diverse crops and environmental conditions to optimize pesticide management frameworks.

Pesticides enhance crop productivity but leave residues that threaten the health and the environment, necessitating sensitive analytical methods to detect widely used compounds like pirimicarb. This study focuses on optimizing the analysis of pirimicarb and its metabolites using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Key instrumental parameters including interface temperature, desolvation line temperature, heat block temperature, column oven temperature, collision-induced dissociation (CID) gas pressure, and interface voltage were systematically optimized to enhance method sensitivity and reliability. Among the tested conditions, interface temperatures of 150 °C and 400 °C provided the highest signal intensity for pirimicarb, while pirimicarb-desmethyl responded best at 250 °C, and pirimicarb-desmethyl-formamido showed maximum signals at 150 °C and 300 °C. For desolvation line temperature, 150 °C yielded the highest intensities for pirimicarb and pirimicarb-desmethyl, whereas 200 °C was optimal for pirimicarb-desmethyl-formamido. Pirimicarb exhibited peak response at a heat block temperature of 300 °C, while pirimicarb-desmethyl showed comparable intensities at 100, 200, and 350 °C, and pirimicarb-desmethyl-formamido responded best at 100 and 200 °C. Column oven temperatures of 40 °C and 50 °C enhanced the response for pirimicarb, with pirimicarb-desmethyl and pirimicarb-desmethyl-formamido showing optimal intensities at 50 °C. Additionally, a CID gas pressure of 270 kPa and interface voltage of 4.0 kV produced the highest ionization efficiency across all analytes. The results demonstrated that specific parameter adjustments significantly improved ionization efficiency and signal intensity, leading to a more robust analytical method. This study underscores the importance of systematic parameter optimization in LC-MS/MS for accurate pesticide residue detection and provides a framework for future research on other pesticide groups.

This study aimed to determine pesticide residues in raisin samples from the Besni and Gölbaşı districts of Adıyaman province, located in the Southeastern Anatolia region of Türkiye. Method validation was carried out for parameters including linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), recovery, precision (repeatability and in-laboratory reproducibility), and measurement uncertainty. The results met the criteria outlined in SANTE/11312/2021. A total of 260 pesticides were analyzed, with pesticide residues detected in 95 out of 100 samples. Among these, 42 samples contained a single pesticide, while 53 samples had two or more residues. The insecticides cypermethrin, indoxacarb, and malathion, along with the fungicides boscalid, flubendiamide, fluopyram, pyrimethanil, and spiroxamine, were identified. All detected pesticide residues were within the LOQ and maximum residue limit (MRL), with no residues exceeding the MRL. According to the analysis, eight different pesticides were identified in the samples. The study confirms that pesticide residues in dried grape samples comply with the MRLs, suggesting minimal health risks for consumers, as both long-term and short-term dietary risks were found to be negligible. However, the presence of multiple pesticide residues underscores the need for ongoing monitoring and stringent regulatory measures to ensure food safety and maintain compliance. These findings provide valuable insights into improving sustainable agricultural practices in grape production and establishing a more effective monitoring system for pesticide residues in raisins

The objective of this study was to evaluate the dissipation kinetics of deltamethrin, emamectin benzoate, and hexythiazox in grapes. The QuEChERS method was employed and validated for the precise determination of these three pesticides using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Excellent linearity was observed with regression coefficients exceeding 0.998. Notably, the limits of quantification (LOQ) were significantly lower than the maximum residue limits (MRLs) established for grapes by the European Union. The QuEChERS method l recovered 93.23% of the pesticides with an acceptable RSD of 5.35% (n = 180), demonstrating its suitability for quantifying them in grapes. Half-lives of deltamethrin, emamectin benzoate, and hexythiazox in grapes were 2.62-2.68 days, 8.15-7.30 days, and 3.24-4.01 days, respectively, for both single and double doses. Residues of all pesticides fell below the MRLs by the preharvest interval. This suggests that their application can be considered safe for grapes, ensuring both pest control and consumer safety.

Pepper, Capsicum annuum L. (Solanales: Solanaceae) production is widely cultivated worldwide, with Türkiye ranks third in global pepper production. However, pests in pepper cultivation often necessitate pesticide use, leading to concerns about pesticide residue levels and their potential impact on food safety. This study investigated the dissipation behavior of lufenuron in pepper under field conditions in Tokat, Türkiye in 2022. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry coupled with the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe technique was used to analyze residues of lufenuron in pepper. The average recoveries varied from 77% to 97%, with relative standard deviations of 13% for lufenuron. Lufenuron residues administered as recommended dose and double dose degraded in pepper following a first-order kinetic model, with an estimated half-life (t1/2) of 4.33 and 6.42 days in Tokat, 6.80 and 7.45 days in Niksar, respectively. Furthermore, a health risk assessment was conducted, which showed that the chronic risk quotient for lufenuron was much lower than 1. The present results indicated that the health risks posed for consumers by the lufenuron residues were negligible at the recommended dosages.

This study aimed to detect insecticide, acaricide, and nematicide residues in 92 fresh and 50 dried fig samples collected from locations with intensive fig, Ficus carica L. (Rosales: Moraceae) production in Aydın, Türkiye in 2022. The analysis method was validated according to SANTE 11312/2021 guidelines. The recoveries ranged between 70% and 120%, with repeatability (RSDr) and within-laboratory reproducibility (RSDwR) ≤ 20% and expanded measurement uncertainties below 50% for all insecticides indicating satisfactory analytical performance. In total, 114 different insecticides were screened, revealing residues in 27 samples. Bifenazate was detected in 13 samples, etoxazole in 3 samples, spiromesifen in 5 samples, and both bifenazate and spiromesifen in 6 samples. No detectable residues were found in the dried fig samples. All samples in which bifenazate was detected were above the European Union Maximum Residue Limits (EU-MRL). Etoxazole and spiromesifen, unauthorized in figs, showed etoxazole residues above EU-MRLs, while spiromesifen residues were below EU-MRLs. The acute and chronic health risk indices for the insecticides were found to be below 1, indicating low health risks associated with fig consumption. The risk assessment suggests that fig consumption is safe for consumers.

In this study, pesticide residues in sauce manufactured from agricultural products were examined. A simultaneous multiresidue analysis for 260 pesticides in sauce samples was performed using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The QuEChERS AOAC 2007.01 (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) was selected as the most suitable protocol for routine determination of pesticide residues. In line with the SANTE/11312/2021 guideline two parameters were used as identification criteria: retention time (RT) with a tolerance of ± 0.1 min in relation to the RT of the analyte in matrix-matched calibration standard and ion ratio tolerance below 30%. The RT deviation in positive samples was always < 0.1 min, and the ion ratio tolerance was < 30%. A total 4 different pesticides were detected in 20 sauce samples. No active ingredient was found in 16 samples. The residue levels were between 10 and 94 µg kg. The residues of acetamiprid, ametoctradin, imazalil sulfate, and metalaxyl-M were below the European Union Maximum Residue Limits (EU-MRLs).

This study was carried out to determine tachinid (Diptera: Tachinidae) parasitoids obtained from some hemipterous hosts in Adana, Ankara, Hatay, Konya and Uşak provinces of Türkiye between 2001 and 2020. For this purpose, adult hemipters were collected from perennial arboreal and annual herbaceous plants. The samples were brought to the laboratory and cultured on the relevant host plant material. As a result of the study, 11 tachinid species were determined from 10 different hemipterous hosts. Of these, four parasitoid-host couples are new records. These were Aelia rostrata Boheman, 1852 (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) and Scantius aegyptius (L., 1758) (Hemiptera: Pyrrhocoridae) for Gymnosoma clavata (Rohdendorf, 1947) (Diptera: Tachinidae), Dolycoris baccarum (L., 1758) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) for Eulabidogaster setifacies (Rondani, 1861) (Diptera: Tachinidae) and Piezodorus lituratus (Fabricius, 1794) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) for Cylindromyia rubida (Loew, 1854) (Diptera: Tachinidae). Also, eight new hosts were reported for the first time in Türkiye. In addition, host information and distributions of each parasitoid are presented in the study.

This study sought to determine pesticide residues in some fruits in Tokat province, Turkey and to assess the health risks associated with the determined residues. QuEChERS analytical method was verified to determine 260 pesticides by using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Pesticide solutions corresponded 10 and 50 µg kg­-1 were applied to the pesticide-free apple matrix for the method verification. The linearities (R2), limit of detections, limit of quantifications and mean recovery values of the pesticides ranged between 0.990-0.999, 0.83-3 μg kg­-1, 2.76-9.99 μg kg­-1 and 70.3-119% (with relative standard deviation ≤20%), respectively. The results were evaluated according to the European Union maximum residue limits (EU-MRL). The residues were lower and higher than the EU-MRL with a ratio of 37.7% and 32.1% of the tested samples, respectively. The residue levels of diflubenzuron in apples, permethrin in cherries, and dimethoate in pears, apples, and peaches were higher than the EU-MRL. The results of health risk assessments indicated that omethoate and dimethoate have acute and chronic toxicity potential for consumers. Hence, the pesticide use in the study area must be reduced to avoid health risks. Furthermore, alternative management methods should be developed to lower the use of pesticides.