Determination of metaldehyde in suspected cases of animal poisoning using gas chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry.

A method was developed to detect the molluscicide metaldehyde in samples of stomach contents for forensic toxicology investigations. Gas chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry in full-scan mode was used to identify and quantify metaldehyde. The limit of detection based on mass chromatograms for the m/z 89 ion was 3 microg/g. Mean recoveries from six different spiked samples were 74% at 25 microg/g and 94% at 500 microg/g. The relative standard deviation of six replicate determinations of a sample containing 632 microg/g metaldehyde was 7.3%.