At an industry and food safety level there is significant interest that dairy companies have confidence in the laboratories to detect antimicrobials in milk and milk products, and to understand the limitations of the methods to detect different antibiotic groups at the Maximum Residue Limit (MRL).

​

Global Proficiency provides a proficiency testing scheme to ascertain the proficiency of participating laboratories in the use of available test kits, e.g. Delvotest, AIM BRT to detect residue levels of the more commonly used antimicrobial veterinary medicines such as beta-lactams (e.g. Penicillin, Cloxacillin, Cephalonium), and aminoglycocides (e.g. Neomycin). The objectives of this programme are:

• To assist laboratories to assess their own capability to detect inhibitory substances, including Penicillin, with the kits they are using

• To help laboratories better understand the limitations of the kits they are using

• To gather data which would assist the industry to demonstrate satisfactory performance in screening for a range of antibiotics at EU MRL's.

For more information see VeriTest® Antimicrobials Programme Description.