Evaluation and validation of an accurate mass screening method for the analysis of pesticides in fruits and vegetables using liquid chromatography–quadrupole-time of flight–mass spectrometry with automated detection

•A method for the screening of pesticides by UPLC–QTOF–MS has been validated.•Optimisation is time consuming: more than 79,000 results were evaluated in this study.•Impact of processing parameters on number of detects and false detects is evaluated.•Challenges for the validation and implementation o...

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