Determination of ivermectin and moxidecin residues in bovine milk and examination of the effects of these residues on acid fermentation of milk.

Ivermectin (IVM) and moxidectin (MXD) are broad-spectrum antiparasitic drugs not approved for use in dairy animals, although their use in dairy sheep, goats and cattle nevertheless occurs in many parts of the world. The work reported here describes (1) the application of an HPLC method (including milk samples clean-up and chemical extraction) to quantify IVM and MXD residues in bovine milk, and (2) an assessment of the effect of different IVM and MXD concentrations on bovine milk acid fermentation. The latter was carried out using the 'yoghurt test' to determine the minimum IVM and MXD concentrations affecting milk acid fermentation. The sample clean-up, chemical extraction and the validated HPLC method allowed the quantification of IVM and MXD up to 0.1 ng ml(-1) in milk with acceptable validation coefficients. Drug recoveries from fortified milk samples ranged between 72% (CV = 9.1%) and 75% (CV = 13.3%) for MXD and IVM, respectively. Neither IVM nor MXD affected the acid fermentation of bovine milk. In fact, there was no drug-induced changes on milk acidity even at IVM and MXD concentrations as high as 1000 ng ml(-1). These results indicate that the yoghurt biological test is not suitable to evaluate the presence of milk residues for these antiparasitic compounds. Thus, a highly sensitive HPLC technique is the only reliable method for determining the presence of residual concentrations of IVM and MXD in milk and dairy products to assure consumer safety.