The antibiotic Florfenicol is brought on the market under various brand names and is used to control infections in cattle, pigs, poultry, and aquaculture. The compound is an effective broad-spectrum antibiotic and is considered as a less toxic alternative for chloramphenicol, which is banned world-wide because of its toxic effects.

Legislation for the use of Florfenicol is in force in the European Union and MRLs are set for several matrices. The drug is not permitted for use in animals from which milk or eggs are produced for human consumption. The EU MRL are set as the sum of florfenicol and its metabolites measured as florfenicol-amine.

The EuroProxima 5091FLOA Florfenicol -amine ELISA kit was launched in 2018. This kit can quantify florfenicol-amine, which is the main metabolite of florfenicol in fish, kidney, liver, milk and egg. This kit was not able to fulfil all market requests for the detection of florfenicol. Different legislation in especially Asian countries, as well as the need to detect the parent drug of florfenicol in some matrices have led to the development of the new 5091FLORF Florfenicol ELISA.

R-Biopharm Nederland has recently launched this new ELISA test on the market. The test can be used for the quantitative analysis of florfenicol residues in chicken, pork, fish, shrimp, and egg. It is a competitive immunoassay in a 96 well microplate (12 strips of 8 wells). Free florfenicol from a sample and a florfenicol conjugate compete for the specific antibodies bound on the plate. After an incubation step of 30 minutes, the non-bound reagents are removed in a washing step. The amount of bound florfenicol is visualized by adding a substrate/chromogen solution.

Together the new florfenicol ELISA and the florfenicol-amine ELISA cover the total spectrum for the detection of this antibiotic. The choice for the right test can be made on basis of the matrix that needs to be tested and/or the legislation that is applicable.

For additional information about his new test, please contact us at [email protected]