Methodology Development for Rapid Analysis of Drug and Pesticide Residues in Food Animal Products

1) Pesticides and drugs (haptens) to be studied will be linked to immunizing proteins by standard or modified techniques; 2) Monoclonal anti- bodies (MAB) will be developed using appropriate experimental animals and will be generated through standard hybridoma fusion procedures. Careful selections will be made to assure a desired degree of selectivity, which may range from compound to class specific; 3) Suitable immunoassays incorporating the MAB and appropriate sample preparation methodologies will be developed and tested; 4) Alternative binding molecules, i.e., molecular imprints, will be generated and incorporated into appropriate assays or sample preparation schemes; 5) Generically engineered antibodies will be developed and evaluated; 6) Generate incurred residues in target animal tissues to test the effectiveness of chemical residue methodology.
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PROGRESS: 1999/10 TO 2000/09
1. What major problem or issue is being resolved and how are you resolving it? Food animal products can be contaminated with chemical residues as well as pathogenic bacteria, thus rapid detection methods are needed to protect the consumer. The goal of this research is to develop monoclonal antibody-based immunoassays for detection and quantification of chemical residues and pathogens in animal products. We produce monoclonal antibodies to important toxins, drugs, and microbial pathogens and then use these antibodies to develop commercial kits for detection purposes. 2. How serious is the problem? Why does it matter? The human health care bill for food borne illness associated with enteropathogens exceeds $4 billion annually. Chemical residues, while more difficult to correlate with human illness, also represent a significant health hazard that adds to the total annual cost of human health care. The technologies developed from this research will be used by regulatory agencies and by industry to monitor the safety of food animal products and feed, and the consumer ultimately benefits as a result of safer food and feed products. 3. How does it relate to the National Program(s) and National Component(s)? This research focuses on enhancing the safety of animal products, and contributes directly to the Microbial Pathogens, and Chemical Residues components of National Program 108 (Food Safety). 4. What were the most significant accomplishments this past year? A. Single Most Significant Accomplishment during FY 2000 year: To assure that antibiotics employed in poultry production are used safely, effective antibiotic residue detection procedures must be developed. We used molecular modeling and advanced immunological techniques to develop a monoclonal antibody test that could rapidly detect residues of the coccidiostat nicarbazin in animal feed. This test has been demonstrated to work under commercial conditions and is now in the patent process. Once commerically available, this test will be a new tool to ensure that poultry feeds do not contain unsafe concentrations of nicarbazin. B. Other Significant Accomplishment(s), if any: None C. Significant Accomplishments/Activities that Support Special Target Populations: None 5. Describe the major accomplishments over the life of the project including their predicted or actual impact. Monoclonal antibodies have been developed to a number of veterinary drugs leading to the development of rapid analysis kits that had been identified by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) as high priority assay needs. Monoclonal antibody based detection systems have been developed for antibiotics (ceftiofur, halofuginone, salinomycin, monensin, sulfathiazole, sulfamethazine, and sulfadimethoxine), natural glycoalkaloid toxicants (alpha-soladine and alpha tomatidine), and mycotoxins (fumonisin and aflatoxin). Additionally, "plastic antibodies" were developed for the herbicide atrazine. These accomplishments have increased the ability of the FSIS to assure safety of the Nation's meat supply, and the technology will likely be applied annually to residue monitoring of poultry flocks containing tens of millions of birds. 6. What do you expect to accomplish, year by year, over the next 3 years? This project expired during FY-00. 7. What science and/or technologies have been transferred and to whom? When is the science and/or technology likely to become available to the end user (industry, farmer, other scientists)? What are the constraints if known, to the adoption & durability of the technology product? A CRADA with a commercial partner was completed for the development of rapid assays to nicarbazin resulting in the submittal of a patent for this assay. Another CRADA was completed for the development of two other antibiotics, tylosin and tilmicosin. These technologies, once commercialized, will help to ensure the safety of the Nation's food and feed supply. 8. List your most important publications in the popular press (no abstracts) and presentations to non-scientific organizations and articles written about your work (NOTE: this does not replace your peer-reviewed publications which are listed below)