Abstract

Penicillins belong to the β-lactam class of antibiotics, and are frequently used in human and veterinary medicine. Despite the positive effects of these drugs, improper use of penicillins poses a potential health risk to consumers. This study has been undertaken to determinate multi-residues of penicillins, including amoxicillin, ampicillin, oxacillin, bezylpenicillin, cloxacillin, dicloxacillin, and nafcillin, using liquid chromatographic tandem mass spectrometer (LC-MS/MS). The developed method was validated for specificity, precision, recovery, and linearity in livestock and marine products. The analytes were extracted with 80% acetonitrile and clean-up by a single reversed-phase solid-phase extraction step. Six penicillins presented recoveries higher than 76% with the exception of Amoxicillin. Relative standard deviations (RSDs) were not more than 10%. The method was applied to 225 real samples. Benzylpenicillin was detected in 12 livestock products and 7 marine products. Amoxicillin, ampicillin, cloxacilllin, dicloxacillin, nafcillin and oxacillin were not detected. The detected levels were 0.001~0.009 mg/kg in livestock products excluding eggs and milk. In marine products, the detected levels were under 0.03 mg/kg. They were under the MRL levels. As monitoring results, it is identified to be safe but it is considered that safety management of antibiotics should continue by monitoring.