Quality Criteria in Pesticide Analysis

There is an increasing concern in pesticide residue analysis laboratories to ensure the quality of their analytical results. Internal quality control (IQC) measures are an essential element to ensure reliable results because they allow both the continuous monitoring of the process and measurements and the elimination of causes of unsatisfactory performance. IQC measures involve the use of blanks, certified reference materials (CRMs), quality control samples, calibrating standards, spiked samples, replicated samples, and blind samples. IQC measures are included in the analytical batch, but it is important not to forget that IQC criteria must be consistent with the cost of analyses, so that the number of IQC measures must not exceed 10% of the total number of samples. Finally, quality criteria in the identification and confirmation of pesticides are considered.