Monitoring of ractopamine concentration in the mixture of this feed additive with vitamin mineral complex and with swine feed by HPLC.

Ractopamine (RAC) analysis at all stages in the feed chain until its final mixing into swine feed is necessary to ensure the safety of all meat consumers and to decrease waste and the cost of supplementation of feed. Two suitable HPLC methods were developed and validated for RAC determination in vitamin mineral complex (VMC) and in swine feed. Both methods employed reverse-phase (C18 column at 40°C) and isocratic elution, but with some modifications to the methods. Validation parameters, such as selectivity, linearity, precision, trueness and robustness, were shown to be within the acceptable range. Therefore, the developed methods can be successfully applied for the monitoring of RAC concentrations in samples of VMC and swine feed ensuring economy to producers and security to consumers of swine meat.