ABSTRACT
In the last decades, public concern over pesticide residues in food commodities including fruits, vegetables, cereals, food of animal origin, etc., has been increasing steadily, placing more pressure on governments for a closer monitoring of the safety of agricultural production. For this purpose, reliable analytical methods are required to check compliance with national and international regulations in all areas of pesticide residue analysis. Sample is defined as one or more units selected from a population of units, or a portion of material selected from a larger quantity of this material. The European Community, together with many countries, applies the Codex Alimentarius sampling guidelines. Certified standards of known purity and assigned expiry date should be used. They should be stored according to the supplier instructions to minimize degradation. The objective of quantitative calibration is to establish the relationship between the measurement signal and the analyte quantity.
