Keuringsstrategieen voor natuurlijke hormonen (WOT-02-003-014, WOT-02-003-059)

It has long been suspected that Dutch and European livestock farmers continue to make illegal use of a wide range of growth promoting agents for cattle fattening.

Objective

The objective of this project is to develop screening and confirmation methods that can demonstrate the abuse of prohibited substances.

The project's sub-objectives for 2014 are:

1. The application and expansion of and acquisition of experience with the newly-developed screening method on the basis of steroid profiling in cattle urine to demonstrate the illegal administration of natural hormones and prohormones and the development of corresponding GC-C-IRMS confirmation methods.
2. The development of measurement strategies for the detection of hormones of natural or semi-natural origin.
3. A study of the suitability of the untargeted and targeted methods for exogenous steroids that were developed earlier.
4. The development of confirmation methods for the presence of somatotropin in milk, fish and cheese.
5. The development of an on-farm format for the demonstration the presence of somatotropin antibodies.
6. The development of a measurement method for the detection of GHRPs (growth hormone-releasing peptides).
7. The development of the BioMS approach with the objective of employing the approach in the detection of unknown growth hormones.
8. The development of a multi-class MS/MS method for the detection of a wide range of prohibited substances.

Method

The implementation of GC-C-IRMS as a confirmation method for the presence of a variety of natural compounds. The further development of the somatotropin method for milk.

Project results

1. The implementation of GC-C-IRMS.
2. The formulation of a monitoring strategy for the detection of semi-natural growth hormones to be specified at a later date.
3. A review of the feasibility of the combination of methods proposed under 3, Demonstration of exogenous compounds for the detection of known or unknown growth hormones.
4. Should the above be successful, a confirmation method for the presence of rbST in milk, progress presentation for other matrices.
5. Progress presentation and, in the event that the development of the method is successful, the preparation of a scientific publication on the on-farm tests that have yet to be developed.
6. A measurement method for the detection of GHRPs in urine specified in a SOP.
7. The development of the BioMS approach for ‘routine’ measurements of cattle feed.
8. The expansion of the current LC-MS/MS measurement method to include a large number of growth-promoting agents.