CRITICAL REVIEW:
ANALYSING NITROFURAN METABOLITES IN FOOD PRODUCTS
INTRODUCTION
Nitrofuran drugs (NFs) are broard-spectrum antibacterial drugs used against both Gram-positive and Gramnegative bacteria as well as Protozoan. Among of hundred listed NFs, four of them such as furazolidone, furaltadone, nitrofurantoin, and nitrofurazone have been banned in many countries including the EU and the U.S for food producing animals due to mutagenicity and carcinogenicity concerns. Since NFs are metabolized
rapidly, only these metabolites are detectable in meat as tissue bound residues. The marker residues indentified are 3-amino-2-oxazolidinone (AOZ) for furazolidone, 3-amino-5-methyl-morpholino-2-oxazolidinone (AMOZ) for furaltadone, semicarzide (SEM) for nitrofurazone, and 1-aminohydantoin (AHD) for nitrofurantoin.
Recently it was found that SEM can as well result from azodicarbonamide
(ADC) decomposition during the thermal food processing. ADC is widely used as
bleaching agent, flour improving agent in the step of dough preparation, and
blowing reagent for food packaging to ensure a tight seal. The products which
contained SEM from this source are bread, flour, processed food with flour,
and baby food products. Additionally,SEM may occur naturally in algae and
shell of crustacean species including shrimp and crab. Apart from these
sources, SEM has been discovered in egg powder, lysozyme, and carrageenan.
Since it is difficult to distinguish if SEM in food products is resulting from
antibiotic abuse, food processing or natural resources, the specific method
to prove the illegal nitrofurazone use has been more focused by the researcher.