Determination of chloramphenicol residues in crustaceans: Preparation and evaluation of a proficiency test in Germany

Chloramphenicol (CAP) is banned for use in food-producing animals and is, thus, controlled on the basis of the National Residue Control Plans in the European Union. Due to current problems with residues of CAP in shrimp, crayfish and prawns, a sensitive GC/NCI/MS method was optimised and in-house validated. The validation study resulted in a decision limit (CC alpha) of 0.07 mu g kg(-1), a recovery of 95% and a within-laboratory reproducibility of 9%. The method was used for preparing a proficiency test to assess the quality of residue control in Germany. The proficiency test involved analysis of five samples and the results were very satisfactory. The reproducibility standard deviation for five samples ranged from 17 to 24%, and the median concentrations lay between 0.43 and 0.51 mu g kg(-1) CAP. These values are clearly below the corresponding Horwitz standard deviation of about 50%. From the study, it can be concluded that there are, irrespective of the method applied, well-established and proper working analytical procedures for the control of CAP around the minimum required performance limit (MRPL) of 0.3 mu g kg(-1).