Premi®Test for the detection of antimicrobial substances in fish

Introduction
Medication of farm animals, when administered either by injection or through feed will lead to residues in the muscle, kidney or liver for a certain period of time. Antibiotics are applied as medication, or as growth promoters. Growing concerns over consumer health-related issues are associated with the intake of these residues. Also, a rise in the numbers of drug resistant bacteria have led to an increased demand for reliable test methods. In addition, antibiotics can affect the quality and safety of dry fermented sausage by inhibiting the starter cultures. EU legislation specifies maximum residue levels (MRL’s) for antibiotics allowed in various meat products (European commission Regulation 2377/90 and amending regulations to 1191/98). DSM has developed the Premi®Test, an antibiotic residue screening test, to detect antimicrobial substances in fresh fish, meat, meat products, kidney and eggs.

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What is Premi®Test?
Premi®Test is a broad spectrum microbial screening test which detects a large number of the most widely used antimicrobial substances in fish. Premi®Test allows a reliable result within 4 hours. Premi®Test is based on the inhibition of the growth of Bacillus stearothermophilus, a bacterium very sensitive to many antibiotics and sulpha compounds. A standardised number of spores is imbedded in an agar medium with selected nutrients.

Premi®Test format
Premi®Test is supplied in polystyrene boxes in quantities of 25 or 100 ampoules. For incubation at the required temperature of 64°C, a DSM heating block incubator or water bath is required. Click here for more information.  A complete Starter-kit Premi®Test containing all the necessary equipment to perform the test is available at DSM.

Why use Premi®Test?
Premi®Test is used in order to prevent that any fish containing antibiotics above the legal limits enters the food chain. It is a fast, sensitive, reliable, easy-to-use and cost-effective test covering a broad range of antibiotics.

Where conventional tests require overnight incubation, Premi®Test gives a reliable result in less than four hours. This allows you to take quick decisions on further processing of your fish.

Premi®Test is easy to perform. Add a small amount of fish juice to the test tube, preheat the incubator for 20 minutes, incubate the sample at 64ºC for approximately three hours and check the color. A clear color change purple to yellow indicates that the antimicrobial compounds are below the Premi®Test detection limits. A purple color indicates the presence of antibiotics at or above the detection limit of the test. A purple color  indicates the presence of antibiotics at or above the detection limits of the test.