Chemometric−Assisted QuEChERS Method for Multiresidue Analysis of Veterinary Drugs in Pigeon Muscle by LC-MS/MS

Pigeon is an essential poultry with tasty meat and high protein content, and its breeding and consumption of meat have been increasing annually. Nevertheless, technical bottlenecks still exist in detecting veterinary drug residues in pigeon muscle. A rapid and sensitive method for determining 67 veterinary drugs belonging to six major groups (quinolones, sulfonamides, macrolides, hormones, tetracyclines, and insecticides) was developed in pigeon muscle. The method described a QuEChERS sample preparation procedure before liquid chromatography−tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The modified QuEChERS extraction method was optimized using the cost-effective chemometric tool equipped with Plackett-Burman (P-B) and Box-Behnken (BBD) response surface experiment designs. Based on the response surface methodology, the optimized conditions were 85.0% methanol, 408.1 mg C18, and 108.3 mg Z-Sep⁺. LC-MS/MS performed the quantitative detection with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) modes under positive ion electrospray ionization (ESI⁺). The calibration curves showed good linearity in the corresponding concentration ranges, with the coefficients of determination (R²) all greater than 0.99. The method’s linearity, selectivity, intra-day and inter-day precision, accuracy, decision limit, detection capability, uncertainty, and quantitation limits are reported. The resulting limits of quantitation were 0.5–2.0 μg kg⁻¹, and therefore satisfactory. Our method was applied to actual samples and proved adequate for routine analysis. The proposed method proved simple, rapid, and reliable for monitoring 67 veterinary drugs in pigeon muscle and can also be used for food safety monitoring.