MICROBIOLOGICAL SCREENING METHODS FOR THE DETECTION OF ANTIMICROBIAL SUBSTANCES IN FOOD PRODUCTS OF ANIMAL ORIGIN

摘要

Food products of animal origin are monitored through out Europe for the presence of antimicrobial agents preferably using microbiological screening methods because of their low cost and high effectiveness. The implementation of the European legislation (Regulation 2377/90 and the established Maximum Residues Limits-MRLs) made it clear that the traditionally applied methods fail to detect the antimicrobial agents at the levels of the established new limits. The last decade this has led to the development of improved microbiological screening methods and this is an overview of the efforts of several research teams to bring these methods into compliance with EU legislation. Microbiological screening methods, antibiotic residues