The FoodBRAND project produced the following valuable deliverables to improve the monitoring of nitrofuran antibiotic residues and enhance consumer food safety:
- A complete range of reference and isotopically labelled standards for the nitrofuran metabolites.
- Highly specific antibodies for AOZ and AMOZ, the tissue-bound residues of furazolidone and furaltadone, the two most widely abused nitrofuran antibiotics.
- ELISA tests for AOZ and AMOZ (R-Biopharm AG).
- HPLC-UV screening method for the nitrofuran metabolites AOZ, AMOZ, AHD and SEM.
- LC-MS/MS confirmatory method for the nitrofuran metabolites AOZ, AMOZ, AHD and SEM in a range of food matrices, with sensitivity below the EU MRPL of 1 µg/kg. This method has been adopted world-wide as the mainstay of nitrofuran detection.
- Data on the high degree of stability of nitrofuran metabolite residues in tissues, standard solutions and during conventional cooking process.
- Data on the concentration and depletion half lives of nitrofuran metabolite residues in tissues of therapeutically treated pigs.
- A survey of nitrofuran residues in pork available to the European consumer. Twelve retail pork samples out of 1500 tested (0.8%) from 15 countries contained nitrofuran residues. Ten of these positive samples were purchased in Portugal.
- Analytical methods, standard materials, survey data, laboratory expertise and advice were disseminated widely to the European laboratory network, Consumer’s groups, the wider public and governments and industry world-wide through a series of publications, provision of SOPs, Technology Transfer events and visitations and consultations by members of the FoodBRAND team.
FoodBRAND was instrumental in uncovering the major abuse of the banned nitrofuran antibiotics in various global livestock industries and in providing new technologies and advice to deal with this previously unknown consumer food safety issue.
Data and methodologies from FoodBRAND were published widely in the scientific literature.
