Screening of Pesticides and Other Contaminants in Food Matrices Using a Novel High‑resolution GC/Q-TOF with a Low‑energy‑capable EI Source

The increasing demand of screening for contaminants in food requires an efficient and sensitive technique.

High-resolution GC/Q-TOF has emerged as a tool to fit this purpose for GC-amenable compounds. The same full-spectrum accurate mass data enable both the confident identification of compounds in the sample and quantitation capabilities to address stringent maximum residue level (MRL) requirements. The addition of low-energy electron impact (EI) ionization enhances the possibility to preserve or confirm molecular ions in EI mass spectra, aiding in the study of unknowns. This work describes the use of a novel high-resolution, low-energy EI-capable GC/Q-TOF to screen pesticides and other contaminants in food matrices.