This study describes the development and validation of a time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay (TR-FIA) for screening ractopamine (RAC) in swine tissue. The method is based on the direct competitive-type immunoassay using europium-labeled anti-RAC monoclonal antibody as a tracer and RAC-ovalbumin as a solid-phase antigen. When RAC was spiked at levels of 1-10 microg kg(-1), recoveries ranged from 88.2 to 118.5% for swine liver and muscle with coefficients of variation from 7.1 to 20.5%. The detection limit was 0.1 microg kg(-1). The proposed TR-FIA method was applied to the determination of RAC in an actual residue study and the applicability was confirmed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.