The determination of sulfonamides in honey by high performance liquid chromatography--mass spectrometry method...

The sulfonamides (SAs) are stable chemotherapeutics used against the bacterial disease affecting bees, known as American foulbrood (Bacillus larvae), so their residues could appear in the honey of treated bees. Their presence at a concentration above the limit value could be a potential danger to human health. Therefore, a simple, rapid, and reliable method for determination of 11 available SAs in honey was optimized. The samples were homogenized and cleaned with extraction on solid phase by means of Chromabond C18 end-capped cartridge followed by LC/MS analyses. A detection limit of 25 microg/kg was achieved for all analytes. The repeatability of the method was proven and the optimal parameters for temperature and pH of the mobile phase and acetic buffer, respectively, were determined. In this study, 20 samples of domestic honey were included. Six of the analyzed samples were positive, but all results were below the Croatian permissible limit value (100 microg/kg).