A novel rapid enzyme immunoassay (Fluorophos BetaScreen) for detection of beta-lactam residues in ex-farm raw milk

A novel, qualitative enzyme immunoassay based on fluorescence detection for determination of beta-lactam antibiotics in raw, commingled milk (Fluorophos BetaScreen E. U. test) was evaluated. A dose-response profile for penicillin G was constructed by analysis of spiked milk samples. The limit of detection, defined as the concentration of penicillin G that resulted in 95% of the samples being evaluated as positive, was 1.8 micrograms/kg. The repeatability of the assay was very high both within and between the three participating milk quality testing laboratories. In total 5,061 randomly selected tanker milk samples were analyzed with the BetaScreen test and compared with the Delvotest SP. The agreement between the two tests was 99.7%. Probably due to a higher sensitivity to penicillin G, the BetaScreen test detected almost twice as many suspect positive tanker milk samples (0.45%) as the Delvotest SP (0.26%).