Food safety is of great importance to consumers. To ensure the safety of the food supply and to facilitate international trade, government agencies and international bodies establish standards, guidelines, and regulations that food producers and trade partners need to meet, respect, and follow. A primary goal of national and international regulatory frameworks for the use of veterinary drugs, including antimicrobials, in food-producing animals is to ensure that authorized products are used in a manner that will not lead to non-compliance residues. However, analytical methods are required to rapidly and accurately detect, quantify, and confirm antibiotic residues in food to verify that regulatory standards have been met and to remove foods that do not.
