ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on an up-to-date use of gas chromatography (GC) techniques applied for the analysis of drug and veterinary drug residues in food, environmental and biological samples. The goal of GC application is to obtain accurate data about the content of the main or residual substances in the raw material of a final product, but also about any contamination and by-products. Derivatization as one step in the analytical protocol should be tested by way of efficiency. One of the risks observed by international organizations and many governments in the world is the increasing use of veterinary drugs for food-producing animals. GC is a powerful technique for separating closely related anti-bacterial drugs that are sufficiently stable to be brought to a temperature in which they are appreciably volatile. Pharmaceuticals, along with personal-care products, steroid sex hormones, illicit drugs, flame retardants and perfluorinated compounds, are considered to be emerging environmental contaminants, while many of them display endocrine-disrupting properties.
