Analysis of Antibiotics in Milk and Its Products

Abstract

Antibiotics are used for treating sick animals and for growth promotion in animals. The antibiotics administered to animals may leave residues in milk and other animal products. These residues may cause various toxic effects such as allergy, carcinogenicity, reproductive disorders and even anaphylactic shock in humans (Darwish et al., 2013). Two different methods are available for the determination of antibiotic residues: (i) screening methods and (ii) confirmatory methods. Screening methods include microbiological inhibition screening methods (Pikkemaat et al., 2011) and immunoassay methods like enzyme immunoassay methods (Yu et al., 2017; Kong et al., 2017), immunosensors/biosensors and immunochromatographic assays (Baxter et al., 2001). Confirmatory methods used in antibiotic residue analysis are chromatography/mass spectroscopy detection methods such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS). Antibiotics have been widely used in veterinary practice, but the presence of antibiotic residues in food samples should be monitored vigilantly as it is a matter of concern for public health. As a consequence, national food safety authorities and regulatory authorities have either banned or strictly regulated the use of antibiotics in veterinary practice and established legal guidance to ensure proper use of these veterinary drugs. The successful implementation of national regulation and surveillance monitoring depends on the availability of reliable analytical techniques.