Comprehensive screening for multi-class veterinary drug residues and other contaminants in muscle using column-switching UPLC-MS/MS

A quantitative multi-class analytical method covering more than 226 veterinary drugs and other contaminants in muscle, belonging to different drug families, was developed. The method is based on liquid–liquid extraction, purification by low-temperature clean-up and dispersive solid-phase extraction (D-SPE), and analysis was conducted in two analytical runs by column-switching UPLC coupled with electrospray ionisation and tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-MS/MS). For most of the target analytes, the optimised pre-treatment processes led to no significant interference from the sample matrix. The limit of quantification varied from 0.05 to 10 µg kg–1. Statistical evaluation indicated that average recoveries spiked into pork were in the range from 62.4% to 138.8%, and the relative standard deviations were in the range from 2.8% to 26.6% (intra-day precision). The availability of this method will contribute to a better safety assurance of meat with a significant reduction of both effort and time.