Recent Advances in Pretreatment Methods and Detection Techniques for Veterinary Drug Residues in Animal-Derived Foods

Veterinary drugs are extensively employed in livestock, poultry, and aquaculture, playing a crucial role in preventing and treating animal diseases, facilitating growth, and enhancing feed conversion rates. Nevertheless, veterinary drug residues in animal-derived foods pose a direct or potential threat to human life and health. Precise detection of these residues in animal-derived foods to ensure their safety has become an important mission. In this review, we sum up the current progress of applied pretreatment methods and detection techniques for veterinary drug residues in animal-derived foods. At present, sample pretreatment methods mainly consist of the following: liquid-liquid extraction; solid-phase extraction; immunoaffinity chromatography; Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS) method; and molecular imprinting technology. Detection techniques mainly involve chromatographic techniques, immunoassay techniques, fluorescence polarization immunoassay, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering. We also discussed the advantages and limitations of these technologies. Moreover, we point out the development direction and tendency of detection techniques in the future, providing references for the detection of veterinary drug residues in animal-derived foods.