Comparison of screening methods for antibiotics in beef kidney juice and serum

Rapid screening tests can be used as part of an efficient program designed to monitor veterinary drug residues in cattle. In this work, three rapid tests designed to screen samples for the presence of antibiotic residues, the Fast Antimicrobial Screen Test (FAST), Premi® and Kidney Inhibition Swab (KIS™) tests, were compared using beef kidney juice and serum samples. In order to provide a realistic assessment, potentially incurred samples of beef kidney juice and serum were obtained from 235 carcasses which had been retained by inspectors in a processing plant for further testing. In addition, liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) analysis was conducted on these samples to identify what antibiotics were present, if any, and their levels. The comparison of the three rapid screening test results with those from LC–MS/MS analysis allowed for a more complete comparison of the relative sensitivity of these analytical methods, as well as valuable information on false positive and negative response rates.