Glyphosate and its main degradation product, AMPA, in honey from Argentina

DEMONTE, LUISINA D.; MICHLIG, MELINA P.; MAGNI, FLORENCIA V.; RAATS, DAIANA G.; MICHLIG, NICOLÁS; REPETTI, MARÍA R.

Praga

Simposio; 10TH International Symposium on Recent Advances in Food Analysis (RAFA); 2022

Argentina is one of the pioneer countries that adopted genetically modified (GM) crops and iscurrently one of the main producers along with USA and Brazil (ISAAA, 2019). In this scenario,glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)-glycine) is a broad-spectrum, systemic and contact herbicidethat is widely used because it attacks all weeds except GM crops such as soybean, corn or cotton.As a large amount of glyphosate is applied in Argentina and worldwide, human exposure and theeco-toxicological environmental risk have drastically increased. For this reason, the concentrationlevels of this herbicide and its main degradation product (aminomethylphosphonic acid, AMPA) areconstantly reported in soil, water resources, rainwater and even in the air. The environmentalcontribution of glyphosate directly impacts food contamination, and particularly the argentinehoney production is strongly affected. This situation motivated us to determine glyphosate andAMPA in honey samples from different regions of Argentina.We developed the analytical method based on derivatization with FMOC because our goal was toachieve the lowest limit of quantification possible using RPLC-MS/MS. The method involves anextraction with water, then derivatization with FMOC-Cl in an alkaline medium (pH = 9), followed byclean-up by L-L partition. Finally, the extract was analyzed by reversed-phase liquid chromatographycoupled to mass spectrometry. The methodology was validated following SANTE guidelines,obtaining satisfactory results in terms of recovery percentages and relative standard deviations (70-120% and ≤20%, respectively). The analysis of commercial honey samples will contribute to better understand the current incidence of glyphosate and its likely ubiquity in the argentine production system and to develop risk assessment strategies.