Abstract: A rapid method for the detection of a marker residue for florfenicol and its major metabolite florfenicol-amine in poultry eggs was established using immunochromatography. Florfenicol and florfenicol-amine were extracted from poultry eggs with ethyl acetate, and florfenicol-amine was derived into florfenicol by dichloroacetic anhydride. Finally, florfenicol was detected by a colloidal gold test strip. The results showed that florfenicol-amine was successfully converted into florfenicol in ethyl acetate, and the detection limits of florfenicol and florfenicol-amine were 1 and 3 μg/kg, respectively. In addition, the method was successfully applied to actual positive egg samples and spiked samples with results consistent with those obtained by the existing national standard method. This method has the characteristics of simple operation, fast detection and low cost, which is suitable for the on-site screening of massive samples, improving food safety supervision efficiency.

Key words: florfenicol; florfenicol-amine; immunochromatography; qualitative analysis; derivative reaction