Overview on liquid chromatographic analysis of tetracycline residues in food matrices

Tetracycline antibiotics (TCs) are often used as feed additives for food-producing animals because of the wide Gram (+) and Gram (−) antibacterial spectrum, low toxicity profile and more importantly low cost. However, antibiotic residues in food, produced from those animals, might be high due to misuse of TCs. Depending on the level of antibiotic residues, a negative impact on human health might be expected. The risk for public health resulting from the use of these veterinary medications has always been a though question to answer for health authorities around the world. Therefore, it is very important to determine residues of TCs in food accurately with appropriate analytical methods that are optimised, validated and implementing new advanced techniques. In this paper, liquid chromatographic methods that are available for the determination of TC levels in foods and food products are reviewed.