Simultaneous Determination of Aminoglycoside Antibiotics in Meat using Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A simultaneous determination was developed for 9 aminoglycoside antibiotics (amikacin, apra- mycin, dihydrostreptomycin, gentamicin, hygromycin B, kanamycin, neomycin, spectinomycin, and streptomycin) in meat by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Each parameter was established by multiple reaction monitoring in positive ion mode. The developed method was validated for specificity, linearity, accuracy, and precision based on CODEX validation guideline. Linearity was over 0.98 with calibration curves of the mixed stan- dards. Recovery of 9 aminoglycosides ranged on 60.5~114% for beef, 60.1~112% for pork and 63.8~131% for chicken. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were 0.001~0.009 mg/kg and 0.006~ 0.03 mg/kg, respectively in livestock products including beef, pork and chicken. This study also performed survey of residual aminoglycoside antibiotics for 193 samples of beef, pork and chicken collected from 9 cities in Korea. Ami- noglycosides were not found in any of the samples.