AOAC Veterinary Drug Standard and Collaboration with Chinese Experts

On May 25-26, 2017, a forum of Food Analytical Science and Standard meeting was organized by AOAC China Section and China Society of Inspection and Quarantine (CSIQ) in Shanghai, China. The goal of this forum is to further communication and collaboration in the field of food safety and quality detection standards between China related parties and international counterparts, promote standards harmonization, exchange the cutting edge techniques relevant to food analysis and trace the AOAC project progress. Around 500 attendees from 60 organizations participated this meeting. The attendees consist of experts from the AOAC INTERNATIONAL, National Food Safety Standards Review Committee of China, governmental laboratories, and representatives from enterprises, and academics.

Pic 1. Group photo of 2017 AOAC China Meeting

The session “AOAC Project on Determination of Multiple Veterinary Drug Residues in Food and Collaboration with China” was co-chaired by AOAC INTERNATIONAL Board Director, Darryl Sullivan and Lei Bao. Hejia Wang of China Institute of Veterinary Drug Control (IVDC), MOA, introduced the progress on China National Standard (GB) formulation/revision for veterinary drug residue. Thierry Delatour of Nestlé Research Center and Longfei Wang of Nestlé Food Safety Institute delivered speeches on LC-MS/MS and HRMS as analytical approaches to screen multi-residues. Hongwei Zhang and Zhenfeng Yue of China Inspection and Quarantine (CIQ), as well as senior application engineer from Thermo Fisher and Agilent, presented their work on method development, standards establishment, quality control and new applications, respectively.

After the forum, a following round table discussion was participated by experts from AOAC working group and GB committee, with a good balance of governments and industries. The progress, plan and methodology of standards relevant to veterinary drug residues were discussed.

Pic 2. Expert discussion in round table discussion

Numbers of compounds to regulate

For China, methods to cover over 200 veterinary drug analytes are needed. The easy-to-get compounds should be of high priority. However, it is necessary to consider the reality of how many analytes could be covered in a single method. The matrices of the most consumption, such as milk, egg, poultry, pork and fish, were suggested to be validated first. In addition, fresh food materials, processed food product should also be involved in validation.  

How many methods for different analytes/matrices

In general, a screening method is expected to be highly efficient. The more analytes and matrices to cover, the more applicable the method is. For the method-analyte-matrix optimization, some scientists proposed to apply the same pretreatment to similar matrices. While in practices, some compounds might be used only in specific scenario (eg. metronidazole is only found in egg), and have different levels of residues in different matrices, so “analyte + matrix” as a combination to develop method is suggested. Another idea is to first separately evaluate analytes and matrices, and then to combine the comparable matrices and pretreatment methods to promote efficiency.

Technological aspects

GB will focus on confirmatory methods (LC-MS/MS) in short term due to cost, universality and the skill level of technicians. In the meantime, China is making efforts to be in line with International standards, hereby the screening methods have potential to develop quickly in Chinese markets and laboratories. For compliance purpose, LC-MS/MS is necessary to be used; while for risk assessment and manufacture use, HRMS could be more efficient. These two techniques could share the same pretreatment procedure. In long term view, HRMS represents the trend of development.

Veterinary drug residues in feedstuffs

The veterinary drug residues in feedstuffs are usually of relatively high concentration and have lower risk. Currently, the amount of relevant standards is small and some standards are being formulated. HRMS would be also suitable to screen veterinary drug residues in feedstuffs.

Contribution to AOAC INTERNATIONAL from China

Representatives from IVDC/MOA, Tianjin CIQ, Shandong CIQ, Shenzhen CIQ, Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Chengdu FDA expressed the willingness to participate in and collaborate with the AOAC INTERNATIONAL working panel on method development and validation of veterinary drug residues.

“This forum has provided a platform for the collaboration of scientists from global and China on the methods comparison and standards harmonization with regard to veterinary drugs.” Lei Bao concluded, “We have collected valuable feedback from Chinese scientists for the upcoming AOAC veterinary drugs standards formulation, which will be helpful for the future harmonization with GB standards in China. ”

Pic 3. Lei Bao hosted the sub forum of veterinary drug residues

Pic 4. Hejia Wang (MOA) introduced GB progress for vet drug residues