Modification of AOAC multiresidue method for determining synthetic pyrethroid residues in fruits, vegetables, and grains. Part III: Studies of analyte stability and method ruggedness.

The stability of 8 synthetic pyrethroids in 9 crops during storage for 90 days were studied. The 8 pyrethroid insecticides were highly persistent in the 6 grains during storage. But their stabilities in 3 kinds of fruits and vegetables were different from those in the 6 grains: Most of them were degraded. Florisil purification conditions were studied with 6 batches of Florisil from 3 countries at various extents of deactivation and amounts. The best conditions of Florisil purification found in this present research agree with those found 1 year ago. The efficiencies of acetonitrile and acetone to extract the 8 pyrethroids from 6 fruit and vegetable samples were compared. The extraction efficiency of acetone was competitive with that of acetonitrile for the 6 fruit and vegetable samples. Method performance was evaluated by 6 analysts from different areas. The ruggedness tests demonstrate further that the proposed method is simple, accurate with good precision, and suitable for multiresidue analysis of pyrethroids in various agriculture products.