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Determination of multiple antibiotic residues in eggs using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)

Authors
Nguyen Thi Phuong Mai, Le Thanh Huyen, Luu Thi Huyen Trang, Hoang Thao Ngan, Tran Cao Son, Nguyen Thi Anh Huong

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Abstract

Macrolides, quinolones, sulfonamides, and tetracyclines are widely used antibiotic groups in poultry production, and their overuse can lead to residues in eggs, affecting public health. This study developed and validated a method for the simultaneous analysis of 12 antibiotics belonging to the four groups aforementioned in egg samples using LC–MS/MS. Samples were extracted with acetonitrile/0.1% formic acid supplemented with EDTA and cleaned with an Oasis PRiME HLB cartridge before analysis. The method demonstrated good specificity, stable linear range (R² > 0.995), recovery ranging from 83.8–105%, with repeatability (RSD) of 2.50 – 12.4%. The detection limit and quantification limit were 15 - 50 µg/kg for the tetracyclines group and 3 - 10 µg/kg for the remaining groups, respectively. When applied to 25 egg samples collected from the Hanoi markets, no antibiotic residues were detected 16 in 21 samples. The remaining four samples showed the presence of oxytetracycline, doxycycline, and sulfamethoxazole, among which one sample contained doxycycline at a notably high concentration of 1360 µg/kg. Due to the limited sample size, these findings should be regarded as preliminary and are insufficient to draw conclusions regarding risk levels at the national scale. Nevertheless, the detection of oxytetracycline, doxycycline, and sulfamethoxazole in egg samples-including one with a relatively high doxycycline concentration-demonstrates the potential applicability of the proposed method and highlights the need for further evaluation through studies with larger sample sizes.

Keywords: Antibiotic residues in eggs, macrolides, tetracyclines, quinolones, sulfonamides.

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