Desorption electrospray ionization-high resolution mass spectrometry for the screening of veterinary drugs in cross-contaminated feedstuffs.

In this study, a desorption electrospray ionization-high resolution mass spectrometry (DESI-HRMS) screening method was developed for fast identification of veterinary drugs in cross-contaminated feedstuffs. The reliable detection was performed working at high resolution (70,000 full width half maximum, FWHM) using an orbitrap mass analyzer. Among the optimized DESI parameters, the solvent (acetonitrile/water, 80:20, v/v) and the sample substrate (poly-tetrafluoroethylene, PTFE) were critical to obtain the best sensitivity. To analyze the solid feed samples, different approaches were tested and a simple solid-liquid extraction and the direct analysis of an aliquot (2 μL) of the extract after letting it dry on the PTFE printed spot provided the best results. The identification of the veterinary drugs (target and non-target) in the cross-contaminated feedstuffs based on the accurate mass measurement and the isotopic pattern fit was performed automatically using a custom-made database. The positive cross-contaminated feed samples were quantified by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). The results obtained demonstrate that DESI-HRMS can be proposed as a fast and suitable screening method to identify positive cross-contaminated feedstuffs reducing the number of samples to be subsequently quantified by UHPLC-MS/MS, thus improving the productivity in quality control laboratories.