Assessment of the stability of pesticides during cryogenic sample processing. 1. Apples.

An assessment of the stability of a large number (106) of pesticides and related compounds during the cryogenic sample processing of apples has been undertaken. For the first time the procedure included an assessment of the losses during the freezing of the fruits, prior to processing. The stability of each pesticide during processing was assessed by comparing the mean recovery for the laboratory-spiked samples with the mean "survival" of the pesticides in cryogenically processed samples. The results clearly demonstrate that the vast majority, 94 of 106, of pesticides were stable during cryogenic processing. Of particular importance was that losses of several pesticides [bitertanol (95%), heptenophos (50%), isofephos (40%), and tolylfluanid (48%)] reported to occur during ambient processing of apples did not occur during cryogenic processing. Losses of dichlofluanid (54%), chlozolinate (22%), and etridiazole (40%), previously reported to occur during ambient processing of apples, were reduced to barely significant levels (10, 17, and 14%, respectively) by cryogenic processing. Small apparent losses for a few of the compounds were attributable to analytical and sample handling difficulties, rather than to losses during processing, and need further investigation.