Veterinary Drug Residues in Animal‐Origin Food: a UPLC–MS/MS Screening Method for the Determination of 21 Beta‐Agonists in Animal Lung and Liver According to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/808

The misuse of beta-agonist drugs as growth promoters in livestock production, highlighted by the cases of intoxication in Europe in the 1990s, has resulted in strict regulations in the European Union. These restrictions have required the development of increasingly sensitive analytical methods. In June 2022, the European Union Reference Laboratory (EURL BVL Berlin) released the Guidance Document on Minimum Method Performance Requirements (MMPRs), a technical guidance for analytical methods in residue control. The MMPRs represent the minimum concentrations that official laboratories should be able to reliably identify to analyze prohibited substances in different animal matrices. In this work, a qualitative screening method for 21 beta-agonists at half of MMPRs was developed and validated in animal lung and liver by UPLC-MS/MS technique according to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/808 requirements. With regard to detection capability CCβ, the results obtained permitted the qualitative determination of 11 clenbuterol-like beta-agonists (Clenbuterol, Bromchlorbuterol, Brombuterol, Cimaterol, Cimbuterol, Clenpenterol, Clenproperol, Hydroxymethylclenbuterol, Mabuterol, Mapenterol, Tulobuterol) at 0.05 μg/kg and for 10 salbutamol-like beta-agonists (Carbuterol, Isoxsuprine, Clencyclohexerol, Ractopamine, Ritodrine, Salbutamol, Terbutaline, Zilpaterol, Fenoterol, Salmeterol) at 0.25 μg/kg. The method was validated for lungs and livers of different animal species (cattle, chicken, sheep, and swine): following the requirements of the above-mentioned Regulation. The method was found to be robust and specific.