The analysis of residual antimicrobials and antibiotics in foods centers on meat and seafood. The analysis of residual antimicrobials is also extremely important for the quality control of meat. This analysis is possible after simple pretreatment. The high-performance liquid chromatography analysis of commercial pork spiked with 150 ppb sulfamethazine (antimicrobial) is introduced below.
A high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) measures the content of various components in a sample. A liquid medium flows through the HPLC flow channel. When a sample is introduced into the instrument, the components of the sample are separated in a column and the amount of each component is measured by a detector. HPLC can handle a much wider range of target samples and components than GC, including difficult-to-vaporize and heat-sensitive components. Use a system incorporating a UV or PDA detector for this analysis. (The photo shows a system with a PDA detector.)
