Degradation of erythromycin in honey and selection of suitable marker residues for food safety analysis

Extra-label use of veterinary medications in apiculture is a practice which is known to result in the presence of drug residues in honey. Erythromycin has been used by some beekeepers in an attempt to control foulbrood diseases in honey bees. It is recognised that erythromycin degrades in acidic aqueous solutions to yield predominantly anhydroerythromycin. Honey is an acidic medium in which erythromycin should also degrade. Three degradation products with a molecular weight of 715 Da (anhydroerythromycin, erythromycin enol ether, and an unidentified but suspected related isomer) have been confirmed to be formed in honey. Erythromycin was found to degrade rapidly in honey at typical hive temperature with a half-life of less than one day. Based on these results, it is recommended that food safety laboratories include degradation products in analytical testing protocols when examining honey for erythromycin residues.