DETERMINATION OF ENDOSULFAN RESIDUES IN BUFFALO MEAT USING HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY

In the present study, buffalo tissue (muscle and liver) samples were screened for the presence of endosulfan residues. The samples were subjected to extraction with acetonitrile, followed by homogenization, sonicaiton, centrifugation and filtration. The extracts were then subjected to liquid-liquid partition (sodium sulfate solution: dichloromethane). The extracts were cleaned up by performing alumina column chromatography. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was performed by using isocratic mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile: water (67: 33) with the flow rate of 1ml/min and run time of 18 minutes. The detection wavelength was set at 202 nm with 360 nm as the reference wavelength. Of the total muscle and liver tissue samples, 34 (13.38%) muscle and 36 (14.17%) liver samples were found to contain endosulfan residues. Of these, four (1.57%) muscle and 13 (5.12%) liver samples were found to exceed the codex Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) for endosulfan in buffalo meat.