The production of pig tissue sulphadimidine reference material

Stability study of selected veterinary drug residues spiked into extracts from different food commodities

Analyte stability is more commonly a confounding factor in analytical chemistry than many analysts recognize. In this study, we assessed the stability of 31 common veterinary drugs in water and final extracts of bovine (milk and kidney/liver) and chicken (muscle and egg) matrices. Two different sample preparation methods were evaluated for one-month storage of the final extracts at typical room, refrigerator, and freezer temperatures. Liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry (LC-MS) by triple quadrupole and high-resolution techniques was used for analysis of the extracts spiked at different relevant concentrations for general regulatory purposes (10-1000 ng/g sample equivalent). Comparison of results between two labs demonstrated that stable drugs (≤20% loss) at all tested conditions consisted of danofloxacin, enrofloxacin, florfenicol, flubendazole, hydroxy-flubendazole, flumequine, flunixin, 5-hydroxy-flunixin, lincomycin, and meloxicam. The tested drugs found to be the most unstable (>20% loss at room temperature within a matter of days) consisted of the β-lactams (ampicillin, cefalexin, cloxacillin, and penicillin G). Curiously, the following antibiotics (mostly macrolides) were apparently more stable in sample extracts than water: emamectin, erythromycin, ivermectin, lasalocid, monensin, tilmicosin, tulathromycin, and tylosin. Those and the other drug analytes (ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, florfenicol amine, 2-amino-flubendazole, oxytetracycline, sulfadiazine, sulfadimethoxine, sulfamethazine, and trimethoprim) were mostly stable for a month in refrigerated extracts, especially at higher concentrations, but not in all cases. In practice, freezer storage of extract solutions was found to be acceptable for at least a month, with a few exceptions.

Producing a sulfamethazine quality control material under the framework of ISO/CD Guide 80

The increasing use of antimicrobial agents such as sulfonamides by the pig industry is of concern, since residues in both pork and its by-products, when derived from animals treated improperly, can endanger human health. The aim of this study was to establish the production conditions and to evaluate the homogeneity and the stability of sulfamethazine in porcine liver quality control material, produced 'in-house' for use in ring tests of the laboratory network of residues and contaminants of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply, Brazil. In the process of preparing the material, a FOSS blender was used, where the samples were ground to obtain a homogeneous mass, which was packed in polypropylene bottles. The material resulting from this process of homogenisation was sampled and analysed by LC/MS/MS. The analytical results were statistically evaluated by one-way ANOVA. According to statistical evaluation, the material produced was considered homogeneous, with 95% confidence. Stability tests were performed with the bottles stored under the specified storage conditions. They were randomly selected and analysed in duplicate by the same analytical method as the homogeneity study. The analytical results were statistically evaluated by the procedures for a stability check described in ISO 13528:2005, indicating that the material was unstable under the conditions of storage.

Extraction of incurred sulphamethazine in swine tissue by microwave assisted extraction and quantification without clean up by high performance liquid chromatography following derivatization with dimethylaminobenzaldehyde

A rapid and reliable method using microwave energy is described for the extraction of spiked and incurred (freeze-dried and fresh) sulphamethazine residues from swine tissues/organs (muscle, liver and kidney). Incurred tissues were obtained from an abattoir and freeze-dried pig tissue reference materials were produced as part of a reference material study for the Community Bureau of References, European Communities. The extraction was achieved by irradiating the sample in methanol for 25 s in a household microwave oven, commonly referred to as microwave-assisted extraction (MAE). The extracts were analysed without clean-up by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using a C18 column and detected at 450 nm after derivatization with 4-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde (DMABA) in a heated rector at 40 degrees C. The limit of quantitation was 2.5 micrograms kg-1 of wet tissues. A comparison of MAE with an homogenization technique indicated that MAE worked extremely well for freeze-dried samples, while it showed significant variation for wet tissues. No sulphamethazine was detected in retail pork meat and liver samples when analysed by the MAE technique.