Abstract:

A liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method was established for the determination of 7 glucocorticoids residues in quick-frozen meat products. Samples were extracted with ethyl acetate, cleaned up with a silica solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridge and diluted with acetonitrile prior to LC-MS/MS analysis. Glucocorticoids were quantified with external standard method. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were 0.2, 0.5 μg/kg respectively for prednisone, prednisolone, dexamethasone, betamethasone, 0.5 μg/kg and 1.0 μg/kg respectively for beclomethasone and fludrocortisone, and 1.0, 2.0 μg/kg respectively for hydrocortisone. Spike recoveries for the seven glucocorticoids ranged from 85.0% to 96.4% with a relative standard deviation within the range of 2.3%－6.1%.

Key words: LC-MS/MS, glucocorticoids, residue analysis