screening of chloramphenicol residues in broiler chickens slaughtered in an industrial poultry abattoir in mashhad, iran

the use of chloramphenicol is prohibited in food producing animals due to its harmful and even potentially fatal side effects in human. in order to screen broiler carcasses for the drug residues, 31 broiler chickens from different farms were sampled. the samples from kidneys were homogenized, extracted using ethyl acetate and dried under n2 flow. the samples were then assayed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa). in the next phase, the concentration of chloramphenicol in the kidney, liver and thigh muscle of 13 positive chickens was compared following extraction and elisa as mentioned. more than half of the samples (54.8%) showed detectable concentrations of chloramphenicol. the highest concentrations of the drug were in the kidney and liver. according to the current research, there seems be a public health threat due to the illegal use of chloramphenicol in broiler farms and that kidney samples can be used for screening tests.