Waters Acquity UPLC and Xevo TQ-S for detection of carbendazim in orange juice

Waters Corporation has confirmed an analytical technique to rapidly determine residue levels of the fungicide carbendazim in orange juice, with no sample preparation, at regulated levels, by using the ultra-high sensitivity of its Xevo TQ-S mass spectrometer and Acquity UPLC I-Class system.

Recent news about the presence of carbendazim in orange juice products has drawn widespread public attention on the safety of the fruit juice. Carbendazim is used legally in Brazil and other countries for plant disease control, post-harvest food storage or transportation and seed pre-plant treatment. It is not approved for use on citrus fruit in Australia and orange juice products in Australia will not be permitted to contain any carbendazim after the first quarter of 2012.

The use of the instruments allows scientists to employ a ‘dilute-and-shoot’ approach to orange juice analysis, detecting carbendazim residue at concentrations below 10 ppb. The method is said to allow for increases in analysis throughput and reduction in method development time.

Many published methods are capable of analysing fungicides, including carbendazim, in fruit juices in the low ppb range. However, intensive sample preparation is normally required in order to remove possible interferences and to enrich the analytes. Waters claims that its method requires no sample preparation due to the sensitivity and specificity of its instruments.