Analysis of Antibiotic Residues in Aquaculture Shrimp farms in Southern Coastal Areas of Kerala

Antibiotics have been used to control the aquatic environment in both therapeutic and prophylactic purposes. The issue of antibiotic residues in aquaculture products has aroused much concern over the last decade. The antibiotic residues can remain in food and enter the human body through the food chain, posing great risks to public health. For the safety of foods and products, many countries have issued maximum residue limits and banned lists for antibiotics in aquaculture products. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) has been widely used for the determination of trace antibiotic residues due to its high sensitivity, selectivity and throughput. Antibiotics are particularly difficult to extract due to their strong interactions with biological matrices. In this study, LC-MS method was developed and validated for quantitative confirmatory analysis of multi-class antibiotics residues in Shrimp gut, pond water and soil. Nine antibiotics belonging to three wide classes were determined within one chromatographic run.