Detection and Quantification of Antibiotics Residues in Honey Samples by Chromatographic Techniques

Abstract

In this work comparative evaluation of honey for the detection and quantification of antibiotics residues including tetracycline, streptomycin, gentamycin and penicillin. The detection of these residues were carried out by TLC method while the positive samples were quantified by an optimized HPLC method. A total of 100 samples were collected from market and categorized as branded and unbranded for comparative study. About 12.5% of branded sample and 19.96% unbranded samples were found positive. Tetracycline residue was found maximum in unbranded sample, while gentamycin was not detected in any tested sample by TLC method. From the quantification by HPLC the total streptomycin residue was determined 16.31µg/g in five positive unbranded sample while this residue was found to be minimum (3.6 µg/ml) in unbranded sample. Finally it was concluded that the unbranded honey had more contamination of antibiotic residues as compared with branded ones.