A multi-residue analysis method was developed for the determination of 41 kinds of pesticides in ginseng by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(GC-MS/MS) with QuEChERS.The samples were extracted using three QuEChERS methods

ie.original

acetate and citrate

respectively.The final extracts were evaluated by GC-MS/MS in selected reaction monitoring(SRM) mode

and quantified by external standard method.The extraction efficiency and purification effect of the three methods were investigated.Results showed that when the original QuEChERS method was selected

which was the most suitable for the tested pesticides

there were good linear relationships for the 41 pesticides in a certain concentration range

with their correlation coefficients(r) higher than 0.995.The limits of detection(LODs

S/N=3) and the limits of quantification(LOQs

S/N=10) of this method were between 2.0-6.0 μg/kg and 5.0-20.0 μg/kg

respectively.Recoveries at four spiked levels of 10

20

100 and 200 μg/kg ranged from 86.7%-115% with the relative standard deviations(RSDs) less than 15%.The method is simple

effective

accurate and sensitive

and is applicable for the screening and detection of multi pesticide residues in ginseng.