Organophosphorus pesticides residues in Italian raw milk.

Organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs), widely used in agriculture, can cause toxic effects to humans and animals. The main purpose of the present work was to determine the contamination in raw milk by the main organophosphorus pesticides used in Italy and to evaluate the opportunity to start specific procedures of risk management along the milk production chain. The samples, collected in 4 Italian dairy plants directly from the tank trucks during the delivering, were representative of 920 tonnes of raw milk. The isolation of the OPPs (acephate, chlorpyriphos, chlorpyriphos-methyl, diazinon, methamidophos, methidathion, phorate, pirimiphos-methyl) was performed by liquid partition followed by clean-up with solid phase extraction. The analyses were carried out by dual column gas chromatography using two nitrogen-phosphorus detectors. Among the 135 samples analysed, 37 were positive in traces and 10 showed an OPP contamination ranging from 5 to 18 microg/kg. The higher results were recorded in the samples collected during the autumn-winter period. The main pollutants detected were acephate and chlorpyriphos. In every positive sample found, the OPP contamination was lower than the maximum residue level (MRL) fixed by the European Commission.

Determination of high molecular mass polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a typical Italian smoked cheese by HPLC-FL.

High-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection was used for the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), in "Diavoletto" smoked cheese. Such cheese is typically produced in the Sorrento peninsula, and it is smoked commonly with different materials of vegetable origin. The importance of the smoking generation material is proven by the attention that the EU is paying in indicating the list of wood that may be used to produce smoking flavor agents. The PAHs considered are classified as "probable human carcinogens" by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for sufficient data from animal bioassays. The smoked samples contained high molecular mass PAHs with different levels ranging from 0.12 to 6.21 microg/kg. The determination was carried out also on liquid smoking flavor agents, smoke-flavored cheese, and nonsmoked cheese to measure the level of contamination before the treatment.