A comprehensive review is presented on the current trends in sample preparation for the isolation of veterinary drugs and growth promoters from foods. The objective of the review is to firstly give an overview of the sample preparation techniques that are applied in field. The review will focus on new techniques and technologies, which improve efficiency and coverage of residues. The underlying theme to the paper is the developments that have been made in multi-residue methods and particularly multi-class methods for residues of licensed animal health products, which have been developed in the last couple of years. The role of multi-class methods is discussed and how they can be accommodated in future residue surveillance.