Degradation dynamics, residues, processing factors, and dietary risk assessment of bisultap in citrus by LC‐MS/MS

Abstract BACKGROUND Citrus leaf miners are a common pest harming citrus production and quality during citrus planting. During the citrus plant's growth phase, bisultap formulation was frequently used to boost yield and produce fruit of high quality. However, research on citrus's dietary risk assessment for bisultap residues, dissipation and residues is lacking. RESULTS Liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry was used to develop an accurate and sensitive analytical method for derivatizing bisultap into nereistoxin in whole fruit, pulp and peel. At various levels of addition, the mean recovery of bisultap ranged from 84.64% to 111.09% with a reasonable relative RSD (< 20%). The half‐lives in Guangxi and Guizhou were 3.96 and 6.03 days, respectively. After 14–21 days of bisultap application, total residues (bisultap and its metabolite nereistoxin) in the whole fruit were from < 0.02 to 0.228 mg kg −1 in the four experiment sites. Total residue (bisultap and nereistoxin, expressed by bisultap) in whole fruit was approximately 1.05–7.23 times that of pulp. The washing process with tap water removed 85.71% to 98.78% of the bisultap residue in the whole fruit. Bisultap's risk assessment value in citrus was in the range 0.16–1.28%. CONCLUSION In the whole citrus fruit, bisultap degrades rapidly. Bisultap residues primarily accumulate on citrus peels, and so washing and peeling citrus may effectively remove bisultap residues. For various age groups, the chronic dietary risk of bisultap was acceptable. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.