The Glasgow-based company has developed a screening kit that looks for traces of chloramphenicol, a prohibited antibiotic that’s misused in the farming industry, the seafood industry and in apiculture.
This antibiotic is banned from foodstuffs entering the food chain due to increasing resistance, and in extreme cases chloramphenicol can cause anaphylactic shock which, in vulnerable people, can be fatal.
R-Biopharm Rhône developed the test to detect chloramphenicol in honey and seafood, and has now extended its methods to include wine, grape juice and enzymes used in food production.
EU rules state that food and wine must be completely chloramphenicol-free.
Product manager Claire Milligan said: “Although it is assumed that there is no direct health risk for the consumer of potentially contaminated foodstuff at the moment, EU laws demand that food must be completely free of prohibited substances.
“R-Biopharm Rhône’s combination of immunoaffinity clean-up and ELISA analysis, which uses antibodies and colour change to identify substances, allows an easy and sensitive screening of enzymes, wine and grape juice for residues of chloramphenicol.”
Source: R-Biopharm Rhône
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