title: POP levels in beans from Mediterranean and tropical areas.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the importance of beans as food, few studies are conducted to control their contamination by persistent organic pollutants (POPs), compounds of great importance because of their toxicity and tendency to accumulate in food chains. In order to evaluate the human exposure to POPs by the consumption of beans a monitoring programme was conducted on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) residues in samples coming from Italy, Mexico, India, Japan, Ghana and Ivory Coast. All beans were extracted with an accelerated solvents extractor in triplicate; the clean-up step was done with a Florisil column; identification and quantification was carried out using a TSQ Quantum XLS Ultra GC-MS/MS in selected reaction monitoring mode.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results revealed concentrations of ∑PAHs ranged from 7.31 µg kg-1to 686 µg kg-1, ∑PCBs between 1.85 µg kg-1and 43.1 µg kg-1and ∑OCPs ranged from 1.37 µg kg-1to 71.8 µg kg-1.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results showed that beans coming from Ivory Coast are the most exposed to the risk of contamination by all the pollutants investigated. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.
authors.affiliation: BIOMORF Department, University of Messina, Viale S.S. Annunziata, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppa
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Bella
authors.affiliation: BIOMORF Department, University of Messina, Viale S.S. Annunziata, Messina, Italy.|Department of Horticultural Systems Engineering and Environment, Higher Institute of Agronomy Chott Mariem, Sousse University, BP. 47, 4042, Sousse, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Imen
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Haddaoui
authors.affiliation: BIOMORF Department, University of Messina, Viale S.S. Annunziata, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lo Turco
authors.affiliation: BIOMORF Department, University of Messina, Viale S.S. Annunziata, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Angela Giorgia
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8608-2435
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Potortì
authors.affiliation: BIOMORF Department, University of Messina, Viale S.S. Annunziata, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Rita
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Fede
authors.affiliation: BIOMORF Department, University of Messina, Viale S.S. Annunziata, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dugo
mesh_terms: D007887:Fabaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D005869:Ghana; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated / Q000032:analysis*; D007194:India; D007558:Italy; D007564:Japan; D019083:Mediterranean Region; D008800:Mexico; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis*; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis*; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D010575:Pesticides; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: EDI; OCPs; PAHs; PCBs; beans