Objective  To establish a method for detection of trace chloramphenicol in aquaculture water and to examine chloramphenicol residual in aquaculture water in Fujian province.

  Methods  Totally 155 aquaculture water samples were collected at settings of aquatic products culture, transportation and marketing in 9 cities and Pingtan experimentation area across Fujian province. The samples then were extracted with ethyl acetate, evaporated and dissolved and chloramphenical in the samples was determined with ultra performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS/MS).

  Results  The linearity range for choloramphenical detection in samples with the UPLC/MS/MS method established was from 0.010 to 0.50 ng/mL, with a linear equation of y = 2.138 79x – 2.055 01e – 005 and a correlation coefficient of 0.999 9. The method quantification limit (MQL) of choloramphenical was 0.000 2 μg/L for a water sample of 50 ml and the recoveries at three spiked levels ranged from 80.5% to 105%, with the relative standard deviation (RSD) of 3.31% – 7.37%, indicating that the established method is sensitive, simple and applicable for low concentration chloramphenical in aquaculture water samples. Of all the aquaculture water samples detected, 31 were positive and the detection rate was 20%; the detection rate of chloramphenicol was obviously higher for shrimp aquaculture water samples (46.2% for 39 samples) than for fish aquaculture water samples.

  Conclusion  The established UPLC/MS/MS method is sensitive, simple, and rapid and applicable for the detection of low concentration chloramphenical in aquaculture water. The detection results with the established method suggest that the usage of choloramphenical in aquaculture production needs to be supervised in Fujian province.