College of Fisheries develops Kit for detection of pesticide residues in fish

College of Fisheries develops Kit for detection of pesticide residues in fish

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Dec 04, 2015:  K M Shankar, Dean (Fisheries), Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University College of Fisheries said that antibiotics such as oxytetracycline, sulpadimethoxine and pesticides like chlorpyriphos enter fisheries waters due to human activity, such as aquaculture, agriculture and animal husbandry . Ultimately, these antibiotics and pesticide residues accumulate in fish/shellfish which is a serious concern from human and fish health point of view and need to be monitored. Though residues detection laboratory tests are available, they are sophisticated and costly and hence employed only for a few samples by government laboratories. Immunoassays for detection of residues are available. But they are expensive due to their import cost, Dr Shankar added.

In this situation, an urgent need existed for development of simple field level indigenous test kits for detection of harmful antibiotics and pesticide residues in fish and shellfish in India.

The College of Fisheries has developed monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against the residues by Hybridoma technology. Employing these MAbs in flow-through assay simple field level kits for detection of the residues developed. The MAb based flow through test kits are of low cost and can be operated in field without need of equipment, he added.

Dr Shankar said the simple field tests could facilitate screening of a large number of samples ultimately for effective management of residues.   The tests are rapid requiring five minutes for completion and can detect level below permitted minimum residue level (MRL) of food standards.

The test kits are useful for traders, businessmen, fish processers, exporters of fisheries products and health managers in general, he explained.   The technology of similar MAb based kit - "RapiDot kit" developed by the college for field level detection of white spot virus in shrimp has already been commercialised through Virbac Animal Health Care Ltd, Mumbai.

These kits have been developed by a team headed by Dr Shankar, Dr B A Shamasundar with funding support from the Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi and European Union, Brusells.