In-Situ and High-Throughput Determination of Antibiotics in Pork Using Electro-Filter Paper Spray Ionization Tandem Miniature Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry

In the recent years, the issue of antibiotic residues in food has become an important topic. Most current methods of detecting antibiotics are time-consuming, laborious, and cannot meet the requirements of field testing. In this study, electro-filter paper spray ionization was coupled with a portable linear ion trap mass spectrometer for the rapid determination of four antibiotics (norfloxacin, tetracycline, oxytetracycline, and chlortetracycline) in pork and milk samples. The experimental setup is not only structurally simple but enables analysis of both solid and liquid samples. The samples require only a simple pretreatment and the complete analysis of a sample requires less than 1 min. The linear range for the determination of the four antibiotic standards was from 1 to 100 mg/L (R2≥0.960). The limits of detection (LOD) for the analytes were 0.100 mg/L, with recoveries from 72.4% to 11%. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) were between 2.70% and 16.5%. This study expands the capability for rapid field testing of antibiotics in meat using portable mass spectrometers, which is important for food safety, environmental protection, and criminal investigations.