Monitoring of antibiotics in industrialized and artisanal cheeses in Jalisco

Abstract

The presence of inhibitors in raw and pasteurized milk is not allowed in Mexico according to current regulations. However it has been proven that milk contaminated with residues of inhibitors is intended for human consumption. Cheese consumption in Mexico increased to to 320 thousand tons in 2010. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the presence of antibiotic residues in artisanal and industrialized cheeses, commercialized in the State of Jalisco. For this purpose, the presence of β-lactams, sulfonamides and tetracyclines was qualitatively determined using the Trisensor® reagent kit. The monitoring consisted of analyzing 125 samples of different types of cheeses, obtained from supermarkets and informal street markets of the state of Jalisco, since July 2016 to May 2017. A total of 125 samples were analyzed: of them only 4 showed negative results, for 96% of positivity. Most samples (90%) contained multiple antibiotic residues. There was a high frequency of positive samples in both industrialized (59%) and artisanal (41%) cheeses. The most frequent family of antibiotics was β-lactam antibiotics (96%), followed by tetracyclines (77%) and sulfonamides (8%). These results confirm that genuine Mexican cheeses present variable quality from the point of view of composition, health and sensory attributes and lack of compliance with the regulations, especially with health legislation representing a source of contribution to the emergence of strains of resistant pathogens.