Chloramphenicol

Chloramphenicol for use in foodproducing animals

Chloramphenicol is a broad-spectrum antibiotic that is banned in the EU for use in food-producing animals because the substance can cause serious damage to health. This substance is therefore listed as a prohibited substance in regulation 37/2010 on pharmacologically active substances and regarding their classification with respect to maximum residue limits in foodstuffs of animal origin. This is particularly relevant in products such as meat, fish and milk, through which residues of these substances can be ingested by humans.

Exposure to chloramphenicol also poses a health hazard to humans. For this reason, it is important that such animal foods are controlled and that analytical methods are used for this purpose which can detect chloramphenicol with particular sensitivity.

We use an HPLC-MS/MS method with a limit of determination of 0.03 µg/kg. This allows testing of the minimum performance limit for chloramphenicol of 0.3 µg/kg according to Dec. No. 2003/181/EC (as of 28.1.22 0.15 µg/kg according to Regulation (EU) 2019/1871). This is used as the limit value for assessing marketability.