Analysis of anabolic steroid hormone residues in chicken meat from Iranian markets using LC-MS/MS

This research aimed to investigate methyltestosterone and androstenedione hormones in chicken meat using the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) technique and liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The optimization method was validated by assessing key parameters including recovery, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), and relative standard deviation (RSD). Recovery values varied from 76.3% to 116.7%. The LOD and LOQ for both hormones were determined to be 0.16 and 0.50 ng/g, respectively. Analysis of 72 chicken meat samples revealed that the levels of both hormones were below the LOD. Therefore, the concentrations of these compounds were found to be below established regulatory limits, indicating no immediate health risk from these two hormones for consumers.