DIN EN 12393-1:2014-01

Pesticides as well as plant protection products are employed for the cultivation of crops in order to provide sustainable protection from pests and non-parasitic interference. Around 650 of such products with approximately 250 active substances are permitted for use in Germany. Pesticide residues can still remain on harvests and infect foodstuffs even after the proper and intended application of pesticides. The maximum amounts of pesticides in various foodstuffs are specified based on levels of toxicity and exposure to individual pesticides. The valid legal basis in Germany is the regulation on maximum residue amounts. Standardized maximum amounts are being established in the EU and are specified in Annex I of European Directive 91/414/EEC. Residues must be analytically applicable so that maximum amounts are meaningful. The need for uniform sampling methods and methods of analysis is therefore explicitly specified in Regulation (EC) No. 396/2005. Based on this, the responsible Working Committee "Pestizide" ("Pesticides") is preparing standards for the determination of pesticide residues in foods of plant origin. This European Standard comprises a range of multi-residue methods of equal status: no single method can be identified as the prime method because, in this field, methods are continuously developing. The selected methods included in this standard have been subjected to interlaboratory studies and/or are widely used throughout Europe. Each method specified in this European Standard is suitable for identifying and quantifying a definite range of those organohalogen, and/or organophosphorus and/or organonitrogen pesticides which occur as residues in foodstuffs of plant origin. In addition to GC that has been routinely employed for a long time using selective detectors, techniques such as GC/MS and LC-MS/MS that have become increasingly significant in the past few years have now been incorporated into this standard. Part 1 of this standard describes basic requirements for laboratories for pesticide analysis, such as concerning the handling of chemicals, equipment, sample treatment and the declarations of results.