High-throughput screening of pesticide and veterinary drug residues in baby food by liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole Orbitrap mass spectrometry

• Analysis of pesticide and veterinary drug residues in baby food by UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap.
• Optimization of the analytical parameters was achieved with a d-optimal design.
• The determination of drug residues in baby food using QuEChERS.
• The proposed sample preparation method is simple, robust and cheaper.

A new analytical method was developed and validated for simultaneous analysis of 333 pesticide and veterinary drug residues in baby food. Response surface methodology was employed to optimize a generic extraction method. Ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization quadrupole Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI Q-Orbitrap) was used for the separation and detection of all the analytes. The method was validated by taking into consideration the guidelines specified in Commission Decision 2002/657/EC and SANCO/12571/2013. The extraction recoveries were in a range of 79.8–110.7%, with coefficient of variation <8.3%. The 333 compounds behave dynamic in the range 0.1–1000 μg kg−1 concentration, with correlation coefficient >0.99. The limits of detection for the analytes are in the range 0.01–5.35 μg kg−1. The limits of quantification for the analytes are in the range 0.01–9.27 μg kg−1. This method has been successfully applied on screening of pesticide and veterinary drugs in ninety-three commercial baby food samples, and tilmicosin, fenbendazole, tylosin tartrate and thiabendazole were detected in some samples tested in this study. The present study is very useful for fast screening of different food contaminants.