Rapid detection of antibiotic residues in animal products using surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy: A review

The use of antibiotics as veterinary drugs is a significant practice to maintain the well-being of farmed animals. Meanwhile, ethical violations committed during the application of the drugs by animal producers have become a major reason for contamination of animal products which in turn causes serious side effects on public health after consumption. The side effects could be severe, long-lasting, and deadly depending on their biochemical and physiologic aftermath. To prevent contaminated products from reaching the consumer, implementing rapid and effective analytical approaches beforehand is a crucial safety assurance measure. Thus, this paper firstly explores six predominant groups of antibiotics that are commonly exploited as veterinary drugs, typically penicillins, tetracyclines, amphenicols, aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones as well triarylmethane dyes. Then, it addresses Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-based detection of the aforementioned drugs in two major categories of animal products; milk, which is the major product of the dairy industry and meat products. The objective is to acquaint readers with various approaches of SERS that have been designed and developed to examine individual drugs from each group of antibiotics in milk and meat. SERS is a surface-sensitive advanced analytical technique that has largely been exploited for chemical and biological analysis due to its unique property of enhancing Raman signals for analytes absorbed on rough Raman scattering nanomaterials. It is quite an interesting tool in drug analysis because of its nature to be exploited for sensitive and rapid as well as in-field and in-laboratory detection. In the animal farming sector, violations such as excessive dosage, prolonged use, and use of illegal drugs are very common during application; so it is important to implement promising tools such as SERS in this area. Here in this paper, we present novel approaches related to drug analysis in milk and meat products including chicken, duck meats, fish, and pork. Different direct and indirect detection techniques and strategies have been discussed. In addition, this review also addresses strengths, limitations, and future trends of SERS with a conclusion at the end.