Quick monitoring of routine samples of foods in the regulatory analysis of pesticide residues

In this study, a rapid visualization method was developed to simultaneously evaluate the on-going performance of routine analysis and ensure that the concentration of multiple pesticides in food samples with high water content complies with Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs). In order to accomplish this, we used a bubble chart known as Fast Risk Estimation and Analysis (FREA). In this chart, each pesticide is represented by a bubble. By looking at its color, position on the graph, and the size of the bubble, you can quickly determine whether it meets the requirements for relative standard deviation (RSD), recovery, Index of Quality for Residues, and matrix effect. Onion and pepper were chosen as commodity group with high water content. A single matrix-matched calibration using pepper was performed to analyse all these products. The risk visualisation allows simultaneous checking of on-going validation and quality control parameters as recovery between 60–140% of the spike samples analysed at the same time, such as the historical RSD (value and alarm if is upper at 20%). At the same time, the bubble chart monitoring other parameters such as the exceeding of the MRL in the analyzed samples, the complex definition of the residue in different pesticides or inconsistencies such as limits of quantification higher than the MRL could be quickly identified.