Anticoagulant rodenticides are frequently a cause of poisoning of domestic animals, wildlife, and human beings. A toxicosis in 6,000 laying hens caused by the malicious addition of unknown amounts of coumatetralyl bait as well as the insecticides aldicarb, methomyl, and imidacloprid in the drinking water, was investigated in the current study. In order to determine a possible carryover of coumatetralyl into eggs, a rapid and reliable analytical method was developed and fully validated for the simultaneous detection of 6 anticoagulant rodenticides (warfarin, coumatetralyl, coumachlor, bromadiolone, difenacoum, and brodifacoum) in yolk and albumen using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. The method developed was reproducible, sensitive, accurate, and linear within the range of 0.01-1 mg/kg, which is the concentration range of bromadiolone and warfarin found in yolk in previously reported studies. The coefficient of variations of within and between days was 1.0-8.5% for yolk and 0.6-3.8% for albumen, while recoveries from spiked albumen and yolk samples were all in the range of 79-99% and 51-95%, respectively. Limits of detection in yolk were 0.01 mg/kg for warfarin and 0.003 mg/kg for the remaining compounds; in albumen, the limit of detection was 0.003 mg/kg for warfarin, coumatetralyl, and coumachlor, and 0.0015 mg/kg for difenacoum and brodifacoum. The application of the validated method revealed the presence of coumatetralyl in the yolk only at levels of 0.0057 mg/kg and 0.0052 mg/kg on the second and fourth day of the poisoning. In conclusion, the HPLC method demonstrated suitability for application in official analysis of anticoagulants in hen eggs.
Keywords: Anticoagulant rodenticides; eggs; high-performance liquid chromatography; poisoning.