Honey samples, collected from the Southern Marmara region of Turkey, were analysed for erythromycin residues by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry using electrospray ionization in the positive ion mode (LC-ESI-MS). Fifty samples, comprising chestnut, pine, linden and multi-flower honeys, were collected directly from hives and analyzed.

A reliable and sensitive procedure is presented for the analysis of erythromycin (ERY) and oleandomycin (OLE) in food of animal origin, such as meat, liver, kidney, raw milk and egg. The method is based on a solid-phase extraction clean-up with a cation exchange cartridge, a 9-fluoromethylchloroformate (FMOC) precolumn derivatization and a separation by HPLC with fluorometric detection.