New Article on the Dangers of Chloramphenicol in Milk and Its Detection

The article entitled “The Danger of Chloramphenicol in Milk” from the Bruker Chemical & Applied Markets (CAM) division has been published in Food Safety Magazine online. Authored by Bruker specialists in liquid chromatography, the article examines the dangerous effects of CAP in contaminated food and how the high sensitivity EVOQ can detect levels as low as 0.02 ppb in milk, far exceeding minimum required performance levels (MRPL) set by EU guidelines.
 
Chloramphenicol is a naturally occurring broad spectrum antibiotic, initially employed as a first line of treatment for typhoid. Although CAP is still commonly prescribed as an optical treatment in the EU, its use is otherwise severely limited. This is in part due to the risk the drug poses to infants, who lack the fully developed liver enzymes to metabolize the drug. Ingestion of CAP can thus cause potentially fatal Gray Baby syndrome, and has also been linked to acute lymphotic leukemia and bone marrow suppression.
 
Consequently in the EU chloramphenicol is banned from use in veterinary medicine and its presence in food products such as milk is strictly prohibited. Regulations state that methods used for the detection of CAP in milk must meet or exceed the MRPL of 0.3 ppb. A case study was carried out on the EVOQ Qube LC-TQ MS/MS, designed for maximum sensitivity in high throughput applications. The EVOQ was able to quantify concentrations as low as 0.2 ppb, easily exceeding EU guidelines, while maintaining consistent ion rations from 0.05 to 1.0 ppb.
 
“Routine food testing requires sustained high sensitivity and the fastest possible turnaround, since time can be critical,” Meredith Conoley, Marketing Director for Bruker CAM, said. “The EVOQ was specifically designed with new technological innovations to meet these criteria. The Active Exhaust prevents the recirculation of nebulized gases to reduce chemical build up, while the Orifice Interface is continually flushed to keep it clean and reduce instrument downtime. PACER exception based data review software moreover provides the fastest sample to report time possible. This high performance instrument offers advantages for many application areas, including environmental testing and forensics.”