• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 2013

Clenbuterol and ractopamine, which are ${\beta}$-agonists, have been misused as a growth promoting agent in meat producing animals. Clenbuterol was banned for veterinary drug in Korea because of its problems regarding safety. Due to their adverse effects, such as cardiovascular and central nervous diseases on human health proper control and monitoring should be conducted. The existing analytical method of clenbuterol and ractopamine in the Food code was improved through our present study. The bovine muscle samples were subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis, extracted with ethyl acetate and defatted by hexane-methanol partitioning. A molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) solid phase extraction cartridge was used for clean-up and LC-MS/MS was operated in positive multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). Clenbuterol-$d_9$ and ractopamine-$d_3$ were used as an internal standard. The renewed method was validated according to the CODEX guideline. The limits of quantitation for clenbuterol and ractopamine were 0.2 and 0.5 ${\mu}g/kg$, respectively. The mean recoveries ranged in 104.2-113.5% for clenbuterol and in 107.6-118.1% for ractopamine. The improved method was able to save both time and expenses.