Determination and confirmation of parent and total ractopamine in bovine, swine, and turkey tissues by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry: Final Action 2011.23.

A multilaboratory study of AOAC Official Method 2011.23 was performed to satisfy requirements for Final Action status through the AOAC expert review panel process. The study included nine collaborating laboratories from the United States, Canada, Brazil, and The Netherlands. Five incurred residue materials (bovine muscle, bovine liver, swine muscle, swine liver, and turkey muscle) were analyzed by each laboratory as blind duplicates for parent and total ractopamine content. After removal of invalid data, the parent and total ractopamine methods demonstrated acceptable reproducibility (RSDR 11.4-42.4%, HorRatR 0.34-2.01) based on AOAC criteria. The method was awarded Final Action status by the Official Methods Board on October 4, 2012.