IPM CRSP QuEChERS Work Session for Chemists - July 21-25, 2008  completed

Objectives

The IPM CRSP (Integrated Pest Management Collaborative Research Support Program) sponsored a small hands-on Quechers work session for chemists from July 21-25, 2008 at Dakar, Senegal. Chemists from Mali and Senegal who are collaborators in the IPM CRSP West Africa project met at CERES/Locustox in Dakar and continued work on the Quechers method of extraction for fruits and vegetables. Objectives for the work session were as follows:

• Hands-on extraction of local fruits and vegetables for pesticides using the QuEChERS method;
• Comparison of in-house prepared solid phase dispersion (SPE) sorbents and purchased sorbents, and;
• Gas chromatographic analysis and calculation of results using external and internal calibration.

Hands-on Practical Training

Tomato, mango, and green beans were purchased from local markets and "spiked" with pesticides to evaluate the accuracy and precision of "recovered" pesticides using a modified Quechers method. "Blank" samples of each commodity were also extracted for comparison. This hands-on exercise yielded successful results and chemists from both laboratories are optimistic about completing an inter-laboratory method validation this year using a shared protocol (written method).

Quechers 1, 2, 3...

Impacts

Chemists from the ETQCL and CERES/Locustox are "primed" to conduct a full-scale method validation using the Quechers method of extraction. Completing a Quechers validation would prepare both laboratories to participate in proficiency testing, an integral step on the road to accreditation to ISO 17025.

Other Highlights

Chemists exchanged practical know-how about laboratory maintenance, supplies, and discussed concerns relevant to working as pesticide chemists in West Africa.

A special thanks ... United Chemical Technologies (UCT) donated/provided some of the supplies used at the 2008 Quechers work session in Dakar. Please visit their web site for environmental products, including Quechers supplies.

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