Food safety assessment of wines commercialised in the Canary Islands by monitoring of pesticide residues from 2017 to 2019

Population growth, international market expansion, and climate change have caused changes in agricultural practices, including increased use of phytosanitary products to control pests and diseases in food production. The European Union aims to achieve sustainable and high-quality food, with a priority of reducing pesticide use. Determining the content of these substances in food is crucial to ensure consumers are not excessively exposed to them. Based on that, in this study, 174 pesticides, including acaricides, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, plant growth regulators, among others, were analysed in 152 wine samples commercialised in the Canary Islands (111 white wine and 41 red wine samples) between 2017 and 2019, including local wines and imported from other locations of Spain. For this purpose, the QuEChERS method combined with liquid chromatography and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry were used. The methodology was successfully validated in terms linearity (R2 ≥ 0.9901), trueness (recovery of 46–133%), precision (relative standard deviation < 20%) and sensitivity (complies with maximum residue limits). A wide variety of pesticides were found, highlighting the presence of fungicides as expected, since these substances are widely used in the treatment of wine grapes against fungi diseases. Likewise, a low rate of exceedances of the maximum residue levels was found. Finally, a non-cumulative toxicological study was carried out based on the Margin of Safety Approach using a conservative screening. Results shown maximum values of 7.4% of the health-based guidance values, resulting in the risk in the consumption of Spanish wines marketed in the Canary Islands is safe in the short and long term.