Determination of Nitarsone in Pork, Egg, Milk, Halibut, Shrimp, and Eel Using QuEChERS and LC-MRM

Nitarsone is an organoarsenic antiprotozoal drug widely used to treat blackhead disease in turkeys and chickens. However, since its biological conversion into inorganic arsenic, a carcinogen was known, its residue in foods should be regulated. Thus, here, a novel method to determine residual nitarsone in various food commodities (pork, milk, egg, halibut, eel, and shrimp) using QuEChERS and LC-MRM was developed. The developed method was successfully validated through specificity, linearity (coefficient of determination, at least 0.991), recovery (R, 63.6 - 85.6%), precision (the relative standard deviation of R, 0.5 - 10.6%), and sensitivity (the lower limit of quantitation, 5 ppb) by following the Ministry of food and drug safety (MFDS) guidelines. The present method is the first mean to quantitate nitarsone using LC-MRM, and it was designed to be conveniently merged into a new method to quantitate multiple veterinary drugs for the positive list system (PLS). Therefore, the present method could contribute to fortify the food safety system in South Korea.