2023-05-23
Antibiotics used to treat dairy animals pose significant risks for human health if they enter into the human food chain; of particular concern is the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria. In addition, they cause significant economic damages as they prevent milk processing into yoghurt and cheese. Monitoring antibiotics at early stage of production is therefore of huge importance for food industry. To tackle the problem, Biomensio has developed a rapid, portable test for screening of common antibiotics from raw milk at production site. A significant milestone was achieved when Biomensio in spring piloted its technology in collaboration with Analytik in Milch, Produktions- und Vertriebs-GmbH (AiM), running laboratories for monitoring the quality of milk produced at dairy farms in Southern Germany.
A set of milk samples were tested with Biomensio’s portable analyser consisting of a biofunctionalised, multiplexing bionsensor, microfluidic cartridge and a portable reader operated by embedded software and equipped with in house developed data analysis algorithm. The user is required to load the sample and initiate the measurement, after which the results are calculated, data is dispayed on screen and sent to database or quality management system of end user.
The test screened for eight different antibiotics belonging to five antibiotic families. The obtained results were compared with lateral flow tests as well as LCMS measurements. The Biomensio test was able to successfully detect all samples containing target antibiotics around and above maximum residue levels, with no false negative results and accuracy above 95%.
