Monitoring of Veterinary Medicine Residues in Honey

This research was carried out to investigate residues of neomycin, streptomycin, dihydrostreptomycin, amitraz, 2,4-dimethylaniline (one of amitraz's metabolites), and coumaphos in honey in order to intensively control their use following the establishment of Korean maximum residue limits (MRLs) for veterinary drugs in honey in 2007. To monitor for residues, 110 honeys and food products with honey were collected and analyzed. The collected honeys included acasia, mixed flower, chestnut, rape flower, jujube, and native types. Neomycin, streptomycin, dihydrostreptomycin, oxytetracycline, and amitraz were not detected among samples. Coumaphos was found in the Korean acasia honey at 0.02 mg/kg, but its concentration was under the MRL (0.1 mg/kg) for coumaphos. According to the results, there were no violations of the Korean MRLs of veterinary drugs in honey.