Research of nitroxynil residues in bovine milk following a single administration in the dry period by ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Nitroxynil (NIT) is a halogenated phenol used to control fascioliasis in cattle and sheep. The Commission Regulation EU No 37/2010 has established maximum residue limits for NIT in bovine and ovine muscle (400 μg kg−1), fat (200 μg kg−1), liver (20 μg kg−1) and kidney (400 μg kg−1), and more recently in bovine and ovine milk (20 μg kg−1). Thirty-five pregnant dairy cows were treated in this study with nitroxynil (340 mg/mL solution for injection) at the recommended dose of 10 mg/kg body weight at the start of the dry period, i.e. 53 to 74 days before the expected calving. Calving occurred between 43 days and 79 days after treatment. The concentrations of NIT in the milk were monitored for up to 120 days after calving. NIT residues were extracted using acetonitrile; magnesium sulfate and sodium chloride were added to induce liquid-liquid partitioning and purified by dispersive solid phase extraction for clean-up. NIT was detected by ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) in negative ionization mode. The highest concentrations of this drug were found in two animals at the first milking, 48 and 53 day post treatment with levels of 362 and 657 μg kg–1, respectively. NIT residues were below the limit of detection of the method (0.24 μg/kg–1) between 67 and 106 day post-treatment. Following calving, residues rapidly depleted in animals and were non-detectable from 10 to 38 days post-calving. In particular, in all animals milk resulted compliant (<20 μg/kg−1) three days post partum