EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT EXTRACTION METHODS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF MACROLIDES RESIDUES IN MEAT-BASED CANNED BABY FOOD BY LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY-TANDEM MASS SPECTROMETRY (LC-MS/MS)

The interest in a better quality of life raised the concern about food safety. The administration of veterinary drugs in livestock may lead the occurrence of residues in food that may be harmful to consumers. Processed products are being consumed more and more, which increases concern for the safety of infants and children because they are more susceptible physiologically. Among these products stand out canned baby foods, defined by Ordinance 34/1998 issued by Brazilian Ministry of Health. Eggs and meat-based salty products for infants and children, legally designated as soups, fit into this definition and can not contain residues of hormones, antibiotics, as well as other pharmacologically active substances. Several techniques are used as identification and confirmatory assays of veterinary drug residues in food, although the main used technique is liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The aim of this work was to make a comparative assessment between different extraction methods in order to establish the best condition within the tested ones for the identification of macrolide residues in meat-based canned baby food by LC-MS/MS. A simple and effective extraction method, with good recoveries (65-93%) and satisfactory relative standard deviations (0.4-11%), was achieved using QuEChERS procedure for sample preparation.