Suchergebnisse

Two surveys are presented of straw analysed for naturally occurring chloramphenicol (CAP), a drug banned for use in food-producing animals. In the first study, CAP was analysed by LC-MS/MS and detected in 37 out of 105 straw samples originating from the Netherlands, France, the UK, Germany and Denmark. The highest level found was 6.3 µg kg−1, the average 0.6 µg kg−1 and the median 0.2 µg kg−1. The second study included a method comparison between ELISA and LC-MS/MS and a survey of CAP in cereal straw sampled at farms in all areas of Sweden. A total of 215 samples were screened by ELISA and a subset of 26 samples was also analysed by LC-MS/MS. Fifty-four of the samples contained more than 1 µg kg−1 CAP and the highest level found was 32 µg kg−1 (confirmed by LC-MS/MS). The highest contents of CAP in this study were allocated to the Baltic sea coast in the south-eastern part of Sweden (the county of Skåne and the Baltic Sea isle of Gotland). These results indicate a high incidence of CAP in straw in north-west Europe and have a severe impact on the enforcement of European Union legislation.

Chloramphenicol (CAP), a broad-spectrum antibiotic, was detected in several herb and grass samples from different geographic origins. Due to its suspected carcinogenicity and linkages with the development of aplastic anemia in humans, CAP is banned for use in food-producing animals in the European Union (EU) and many other countries. However, products of animal origin originating from Asian countries entering the European market are still found noncompliant (containing CAP) on a regular basis, even when there is no history of chloramphenicol use in these countries. A possible explanation for the continued detection of these residues is the natural occurrence of CAP in plant material which is used as animal feed, with the consequent transfer of the substance to the animal tissues. Approximately 110 samples were analyzed using liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometric detection. In 26 samples, the presence of CAP was confirmed using the criteria for banned substances defined by the EU. Among other plant materials, samples of the Artemisia family retrieved from Mongolia and from Utah, USA, and a therapeutic herb mixture obtained from local stores in the Netherlands proved to contain CAP at levels ranging from 0.1 to 450 µg/kg. These findings may have a major impact in relation to international trade and safety to the consumer. The results of this study demonstrate that noncompliant findings in animal-derived food products may in part be due to the natural occurrence of chloramphenicol in plant material. This has implications for the application of current EU, USA, and other legislation and the interpretation of analytical results with respect to the consideration of CAP as a xenobiotic veterinary drug residue and the regulatory actions taken upon its detection in food.