Screening methods for detection of antibiotic residues in slaughter animals: comparison of the EU-four plate method, the Nouws Antibiotic Test and the Premi®Test (applied to muscle and kidney)

Mariel G Pikkemaat (1) , Michel L B A Rapallini (2) , Tina Zuidema (3) , J.W. Alexander Elferink (3) , Sabrina Oostra-van Dijk (3) , Wilma D.M. Driessen-van Lankveld (3)

1 RIKILT-Institute of food safety
2 Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority
3 RIKILT-Institute of Food Safety

Microbial growth inhibition tests are widely used as the primary screening approach for the detection of antibiotic residues in slaughter animals. In this study we evaluated and compared the performance of the EU-four plate method (EU4pt), the Nouws Antibiotic Test (NAT), and a commercial ampoule test, the Premi®Test (applied to both muscle and kidney), by parallel analysis of 735 slaughter animals. The EU4pt only showed significant inhibition with two muscle samples containing 305 µg kg-1 doxycycline and 648 µg kg-1 tulathromycin, while an MRL violation of 1100 µg kg-1 sulfamethazine remained unnoticed. Premi®Test-muscle only detected the sulfamethazine containing sample, all other (1.1%) suspect samples appeared false-positive results. The same test applied to kidney yielded 4.1 % suspect samples, while the NAT-screening (based on analysis of renal pelvis fluid) showed 4.9 % suspect results. The fast majority of these samples contained tetracycline and/or aminoglycoside residues. Premi®Test-kidney appeared more sensitive to aminoglycosides than the NAT-screening, which failed to detect an MRL violation of 870 µg kg-1 gentamicin in kidney. Detection of

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Mariel G Pikkemaat, Michel L B A Rapallini, Tina Zuidema, J.W. Alexander Elferink, Sabrina Oostra-van Dijk, et al.. Screening methods for detection of antibiotic residues in slaughter animals: comparison of the EU-four plate method, the Nouws Antibiotic Test and the Premi®Test (applied to muscle and kidney). Food Additives and Contaminants, 2010, 28 (1), pp.26. ⟨10.1080/19440049.2010.535027⟩. ⟨hal-00654144⟩