To support environmental and food safety of spice paprika production, paprika growing sites in intensive and ecological cultivation have been sampled and analyzed for pesticide residues in Hungary. Two sites of three producers in each cultivation mode were sampled in early summer. Soil samples have been collected at three different points from two or three depth levels, thus, altogether 42 soil samples have been collected at six intensive cultivation fields (ICFs) and 23 soil samples from ecological cultivation fields (ECFs). Pesticide residues in soil extracts have been determined by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In soils from ICF sampling sites pesticide active ingredients trifluralin, tefluthrin, chlorpyrifos and DDT were detected together with certain decomposition products (DDE, DDD). Harvested paprika samples were collected in September from four ICFs and from one ECF. Biological samples, prepared by a modified QuEChERS extraction method and analyzed for pesticide residues by GC-MS, contained no detectable amounts of pesticide active ingredients and metabolites, even when plants were grown in ICF on soil containing pesticide residues
