Abstract

Pesticides are extensively used in agriculture to control insects, fungi, weeds and other pests and to improve crop productivity. However, inappropriate or excessive use of pesticides can result in residues remaining on or within fruits and vegetables. Monitoring these residues is important for food safety, consumer protection and regulatory compliance. The determination of pesticide residues is analytically challenging because fruits and vegetables contain complex matrices consisting of water, sugars, pigments, organic acids, lipids and other compounds that may interfere with analysis. This review discusses the major analytical approaches used for the determination of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables, with particular emphasis on sample preparation, extraction, clean-up, chromatographic separation and detection. Conventional techniques such as liquid–liquid extraction, solid-phase extraction (SPE), gas chromatography (GC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are compared with modern approaches including QuEChERS, GC-MS/MS, LC-MS/MS and high resolution mass spectrometry. Emerging techniques such as biosensors, spectroscopy, nanomaterialassisted extraction and rapid screening methods are also discussed. QuEChERS coupled with GC-MS/MS or LC-MS/MS has become an important approach for multi-residue analysis because of its simplicity, relatively low solvent consumption, good recovery and compatibility with a wide range of pesticides. Nevertheless, highly polar pesticides and severe matrix effects remain analytical challenges. Future developments are expected to focus on greener sample preparation, improved selectivity, highresolution instruments, automation and rapid field-based detection.