Analysis of Residual Chloramphenicol in Shrimp by LC/MS/MS with QuEChERS Sample Pre-treatment

Chloramphenicol (CAP) is a broad spectrum antibiotic that is widely used in the growth of animals and marine culture. However, CAP can cause aplastic anaemia and is a possible carcinogen in humans. Its use in livestock farming including fish and shrimps has been banned in European Union and many other countries. However, illegal use of CAP is still present due to its low cost and ready availability. As there is not a safe maximum residue level (MRL) determined in food for CAP, a highly selective and sensitive analytical method to detect CAP residues in complex matrices such as food samples is required. Here, we present a LC/MS/MS method for accurate and reliable quantitation of CAP in shrimp samples on LCMS-8050 with a heated ESI interface. The shrimp samples were pre-treated with a modified QuEChERs procedure. The method performance was evaluated with spiked samples and exhibits good accuracy, reproducibility, linearity and specificity over the concentration range from 0.005-20 ng/mL. The quantitation limit of the method with 5μL injection volume are determined to be 0.01 ng/mL, which is equivalent to 0.2 μg/kg of CAP in shrimp samples after incorporating a dilution factor of 20 from the sample pre-treatment procedure. This value satisfies the Minimum Required Performance Limit (MRPL) set at 0.3 μg/kg by the European Union.