Validated determination of eight antibiotic substance groups in cattle and pig muscle by HPLC/MS/MS

The described multimethod is suited for the determination of 53 substances of eight antibiotic groups-tetracyclines, quinolones, macrolides, sulfonamides, diphenylsulfones, diamino-pyrimidine derivatives, pleuromutilines, and lincosamides-in cattle and pig muscle. All substances were analyzed simultaneously with the same sample preparation and in one HPLC/MS/MS run. The validation of the multimethod was successfully accomplished with the help of an alternative in-house validation concept requiring only 48 experiments. The substances were validated at concentrations of 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 x MRL (maximum residue limit) or 5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 microg/kg for substances without an MRL. The calculated relevant validation parameters were based on and comply with the requirements of Commission Decision 2002/657/EC, i.e., the decision limit, detection capability, repeatability, within-laboratory reproducibility, and recovery. The robustness of the method was demonstrated by varying seven factors of the analytical procedure. Several proficiency tests were carried out successfully to provide evidence for the applicability of the method.