RESUMEN
A liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometric detection (LC-MS/MS) method was established for the simultaneous determination of the levels of 10 ß2-agonists in meat. The samples were extracted using an aqueous acidic solution and cleaned up using a Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) technique utilising a DVB-NVP-SO3Na sorbent synthesised in-house. First, the ß2-agonist residues were extracted in an aqueous acidic solution, followed by matrix solid-phase dispersion for clean-up. The linearities of the method were R(2)=0.9925-0.9998, with RSDs of 2.7-15.3% and 73.7-103.5% recoveries. Very low limits of detection (LOD) and quantitation (LOQ) of 0.2-0.9 µg/kg and 0.8-3.2 µg/kg, respectively, were achieved for spiked meat. The values obtained were lower than the maximum residue limits (MRLs) established by the EU and China. These results clearly demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach. The evaluated method provided reliable screening, quantification and identification of 10 ß2-agonists in meat.