Tetracycline Residues in Honey- Determination and Quantification

Honey is used in a number of ways as food, food additives, drug supplements having great prophylactic and therapeutic values. However, most commercial honey brands contain varying amounts of antibiotics and their consumption over time could induce resistance to antibiotics, leading to blood-related disorders and injury to the liver. Quantification of tetracycline analogues contamination level is essential to be checked for autochthonous honey, imported and exported honey, in order to ensure safe and sound human health. The present book deals with methods of determining and quantifying the concentration of honey contamination by tetracycline antibiotics used in apiculture and help food agencies and governments to further regulate the use of antibiotic and anti-parasitic drugs in apiculture. Analytical technique discussed in this book is liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometer detector (LC-MSMS) which shows high sensitivity and able to detect tetracycline even at very low concentration (parts per billion) with high reproducibility.