Introduction

Antibiotics are commonly used in bee hives to control bacterial disease in honey bees. Use of these antibiotics requires caution to prevent persistent residues from occurring in food-grade honey. If antibiotic residues are present in sufficient quantities, allergic reactions and bacterial resistance can develop. Many countries now monitor antibiotic residues in honey. LC-MS/MS is currently a common analytical approach for the quantification of antibiotic contamination in honey. Sample preparation for LC-MS/MS analysis can be time and labor intensive, often involving pH modification, hydrolysis, liquid-liquid extraction, solid phase extraction, solvent evaporation, and pre-concentration. A quick, comprehensive, online screening liquid chromatography (LC) method using a Thermo Scientific Aria TLX system powered by Thermo Scientific TurboFlow technology has been developed here to monitor several classes of antibiotics.

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