Standardization and presentation of analytical results for the detection of organochlorine pesticides susceptible to isomerism and metabolism (using 4,4’-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane – DDT as an example)

Many active ingredients in pesticides are mixtures of isomers. When ingested by humans, crops, or exposed to environmental factors, such a mixture can be completely or partially transformed into the corresponding metabolites over a period of time. Such metamorphoses of mixture components often lead to numerous questions when establishing regulatory requirements for safety indicators and, on the other hand, to difficulties in documenting and presenting research results. This article discusses this issue using the organochlorine pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) as an example. Its residues in food products are one of the most closely monitored safety indicators in the world, subject to mandatory declaration on all food products in the Russian Federation. Domestic and international approaches to standardizing DDT isomers and metabolites are described. Several methods for determining DDT, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, are considered. The main challenges of both DDT standardization and methodological support are identified and outlined. These challenges stem from the ambiguity of the mandatory safety indicator for any food product, defined in CU TR 021/2011 and other technical regulations of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) for food products and food raw materials as “DDT and its metabolites.” An analysis of regulatory requirements for food safety set out in national, interstate, and international documents was conducted using publicly available materials, including technical regulations of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) for food products and food raw materials, documents of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the European Union, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the legislation of Japan, Australia, and the People’s Republic of China.

Contribution:
Rakitsky V.N. – concept and design of the study;
Dobreva N.I., Fedorova N.E. – concept and design of the study, collection and processing of material, writing text, editing;
Suslova A.V. – collection and processing of material.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Funding. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: April 23, 2026 / Revised: June 15, 2026 / Accepted: July 1, 2026 / Published: August 14, 2026

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