Development of a simple UPLC-MS/MS method coupled with a modified QuEChERS for analyzing multiple antibiotics in vegetables and applied to pollution assessment

Abstract

Antibiotics used in livestock husbandry can contaminate the environment through animal excretions and aquaculture wastewater. Absorption of these antibiotics by vegetables may pose health risks to humans through the food chain. However, research on detecting multi-antibiotics in vegetables remains limited. This study aims to develop a reliable and sensitive method to quantify 72 antibiotics from six classes in vegetable samples using modified QuEChERS and UPLC-MS/MS methods. The QuEChERS method was optimized by investigating extraction solvents, salting-out agents, and adsorbents. The percentage recovery of the 72 analyte antibiotics from spiked vegetable samples ranged between 61.5% and 117.8%. Intra-day and inter-day precision were below 12.1% and 15.4%, respectively. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.010–0.232 µg.kg−1 and 0.032–0.772 µg.kg−1, respectively. The method demonstrated a weak matrix effect for 61.1% of the tested compounds. Applying the developed method to analyze 248 vegetable samples, 15 antibiotics were detected, ranging from 0.010 µg.kg−1 to 561.0 µg.kg−1 fresh weight. Notably, bean sprouts showed the presence of multiple antibiotics, suggesting the possible misuse of antibiotics in their production.