Antibacterial Growth Promoters, Performance Enhancing Antibiotics
Antibacterial drugs that are used as growth promoters are added to feed in subtherapeutic levels over an extended period of time. Residues of these drugs are likely to turn up in edible tissues, milk or eggs. These residues in food products may lead to allergic reactions and adverse effects. However, the greatest threat is the development of resistant strains of bacteria in humans.
The use of antibacterial growth promoters (AGP’s) Zinc Bacitracin, Spiramycin, Tylosin, Virginiamycin and Olaquindox in feeding stuffs has been prohibited in the EU since 1998.
These AGP’s are also prohibited in bee industry and there is a zero tolerance level for honey.
Virginiamycin and Olaquindox are not allowed for therapeutic use and for Tylosin and Bacitracin MRL levels have been established. The MRL for Bacitracin in cow milk is 100 ppb. For Tylosin there are MRL’s for all Food producing species: 50 ppb in milk, 100 ppb in tissues and 200 ppb in egg.
In 2006 we introduced the Multi-AGP ELISA for the combined detection of five AGP’s in one kit. The demand for lower detection levels and increased specificity in different matrices has urged us to make individual kits for the different drugs.
We now introduce three individual competitive ELISA kits for the detection of respectively:
Bacitracin, Tylosin and Virginiamycin. A kit for Olaquindox will be available soon.
Bacitracin ELISA
Application: Urine samples can be analyzed after a simple dilution in buffer. The Limit of Detection in urine is 20 – 30 ppb. The antibody used in this test is 100% specific for Bacitracin and no cross reactivity with other antibiotics has been observed. Validation report BAC[val02]04.10
Virginiamycin ELISA
Application: Urine samples can be analyzed after a simple dilution in buffer. The Limit of Detection in urine is 14 ppb . The antibody used in this test is 100% specific for Virginiamycin and no cross reactivity with other antibiotics has been observed. Validation report VIG[val01]03.10
Tylosin ELISA
Application : For urine, milk and honey Limit of Detections of respectively 27, 3 and 1 ppb were fixed. The antibody used in this assay has a 100% cross reactivity for Tylosin A and 36% for Tylosin B. No cross reactivity with other antibiotics was observed. Validation report TYL[val01]04.10
With these three new kits and the forthcoming Olaquindox ELISA we offer a unique panel for the detection of these partly prohibited Antibacterial Growth Promoters