Neogen Corporation has introduced six new tests for the detection of veterinary drug residues in food, which adds to the four other tests recently introduced.

The six new tests are for sulfonamides, tetracyclines, gentamicin, neomycin, fluoroquinolone, and tylosin. Which add to the existing tests for clenbuterol, avermectins, florfenicol, and oxytetracycline.

Each of the new tests are in Neogen’s proven Veratox® brand format, which provides an accurate, rapid, cost-effective and easy-to-use diagnostic method compared to instrument-based tests, including HPLC, GC/MS or LC/MS. Veratox tests use a competitive direct ELISA that provides exact concentrations in parts per trillion (ppt) and provide the flexibility of screening samples at a certain threshold, or providing quantitative results.

Neogen’s newest tests detect:

• Sulfonamides are a class of antibiotics used in both feed and water for the treatment of intestinal infections and other diseases in food producing animals. Sulfonamide residues can occur in food of animal origin.

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• Tetracycline is a class of antibiotics. Tetracyclines are broad spectrum antibiotics which are frequently employed in animal production for their excellent antibacterial and pharmacokinetic properties.

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• Neomycin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic. All the aminoglycosides are potentially toxic compounds causing significant damage in vestibular and auditory functions in human and animals. Nevertheless, they are used because of their antibacterial and antifungal activities.

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• Fluoroquinolones (quinolones) are a class of antibiotics that can inhibit the activity of bacterial DNA gyrase. The fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics mainly includes norfloxacin, enrofloxacin, and its active metabolite ciprofloxacin, danofloxacin and pipemidic acid.

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• Tylosin is a bacteriostat feed additive and injectable used in veterinary medicine. It has a broad spectrum of activity against Gram-positive organisms and a limited range of Gram-negative organisms.

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• Gentamicin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic that is water-soluble. All the aminoglycosides are potentially toxic compounds causing significant damage in vestibular and auditory functions in human and animals.

Neogen also offers rapid veterinary drug residue tests for beta-lactams, ractopamine, malachite green and chloramphenicol in food products.