Fera food safety experts make use of innovative testing methods to highlight the levels of a comprehensive range of nitroimidazoles, within your food samples. We can also provide the evidence required by regulators to verify that the levels of nitroimidazoles within your food products are compliant.

Nitromidazoles are a group of drugs that have both antiprotozoal and antibacterial activity and have been used, for example, to control histomoniasis (a protozoal infection) in poultry. In the EU they are prohibited from use as veterinary medicines. The marker residues to be monitored are considered to be the hydroxy metabolites where appropriate.

This screen includes the following nitroimidazoles: Dimetridazole / Hydroxydimetridazole, Ipronidazole / Hydroxyipronidazole, Metronidazole / Hydroxymetronidazole, and Ronidazole. Testing can be undertaken in a wide variety of analytes, some examples are: Pate, Eggs, Fish, Honey, Corned Beef, Processed Poultry, and others.

The scientists at Fera are experts in veterinary medicine residues, having had over 30 years of experience, and utilising state-of-the-art equipment for fast and accurate analysis. The analytical method used at Fera is based on liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS), and has been validated in accordance with the principles set out in Commission Decision 2002/657/EC. Our analysis is accredited to ISO17025 by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), and we can provide the evidence required by regulators to verify that the levels of nitroimidazoles within your food products are compliant with regulation.

Confirmatory Analysis

Confirmatory analysis, where required, will be at the same value as the analysis performed.  Fera will contact you beforehand to establish if the additional analysis is required.  The delivery time for confirmatory results will be 10 working days from your instruction to proceed.