A sensitive and repeatable method for characterization of sulfonamides and trimethoprim in honey using QuEChERS extracts with Liquid-Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

The antibacterial sulfonamides (SA) and trimethoprim are widely used in veterinary and human medicine. Diverse foods from animals potentially contain residues of these drugs posing possible threats to people by triggering allergic reactions and undesirable increasing of microorganism's drug resistance. Various countries have defined their own maximum residue limits (MRLs) for sulfonamides accepted in honey, There are no MRL's for sulfonamides in honey in the UE but in 2002 a minimum required performance level (MRPL) was set for analytical methods at a level of 10 μg/kg. HPLC-MS/MS is an effective strategy to characterize and accurately measure those antibiotics considering MRLs and MRPLs in food products from animal origin tend to be continually reduced to preserve human health safety. A selective, fast and sensitive HPLC-MS-MS method has been developed for 15 sulfonamides and trimethoprim.