Accurate monitoring of chemical
residue levels in food and agriculture
products is essential to assure food
supply safety and manage global
health risks. Analysing chemical
residues requires techniques sensitive
enough to detect and quantify
contaminants at or below the
maximum residue limit (MRL) of the
compound in a given sample matrix. In
addition, because of increased food
safety regulations and the growing
numbers of samples to be analysed, it
is critical that the analytical techniques
provide high sample throughput.
With the continuing rapid growth of
the aquaculture industry, there is
increasing concern about the use of
unapproved drugs and unsafe
chemicals in aquafarming operations.
Malachite green (MG), a
triphenylmethane dye, is an effective
and inexpensive fungicide used in
aquaculture, particularly in Asian
countries (Figure 1). During
metabolism, malachite green reduces
to leucomalachite green (LMG), which
has been shown to accumulate in fatty
fish tissues and can be found long after
MG may no longer be detected [1].
Both MG and LMG have demonstrated
putative carcinogenic activity, and thus
MG has been banned for use as an
aquaculture veterinary drug in many
countries including the United States
and Canada as well as the European
Union (EU). For substances banned
from use in food producing animals,
EU legislation defines minimum
required performance limits. For
malachite green, an analytical test
method must be able to determine the
sum of MG and LMG residues in fish
muscle at the minimum required
performance limit of 2 μg/kg (ppb) [2].
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