Abstract: Chiral pesticides have one or more enantiomers, and their biological activity, toxicity, environmental behavior, degradation and metabolism may be different. Tea, as one of the three major beverages, has attracted much attention in terms of quality and safety. However, more attention is currently paid to the total amount of pesticide racemate residues. With the development of analytical techniques, it is particularly crucial to fully understand the stereoselective behavior of the chiral pesticide enantiomer in tea, as well as to examine residue degradation in tea and to set the maximum residue limits for enantiomers. This would help to improve the efficacies of chiral pesticides and reduce their residues and toxicities to non-target organisms. In this paper, the current status of chiral pesticide separation and residue detection technology in tea were reviewed, such as liquid chromatography, gas chromatography and supercritical fluid chromatography. In addition, it provided a summary of the residue degradation behaviors and risk assessment of chiral pesticide enantiomers in tea, which would be useful as a guide for further in-depth studies on chiral pesticide enantiomers in tea.

Key words: tea, chiralpesticide, enantiomer, residue analysis, risk assessment