Effect of Heating on the Stability of Quinolones in Milk

Nowadays, the possible public health risk associated with the presence of quinolone residues and other antibiotics in milk is well-known, but there is a lack of information about the effect milk processing temperatures have on the presence of antimicrobial residues. The aim of this work was to determine the effect of different temperatures and heating times on the concentration of quinolones in milk by employing liquid chromatographic equipment analysis with fluorescence detection. In order to determine the thermo-stability of these compounds, the first-order kinetic model was applied, and the activation energies, half-lives, and percentages of degradation of each compound were calculated. Results showed that quinolones are very resistant to different heat treatments with maximum losses of concentration of 12.71% for ciprofloxacin and 12.01% for norfloxacin at 120 degrees C and 20 min. The high stability of quinolones represents a significant risk to human health because the residues of these antibiotics can remain in milk after heat treatment and, therefore, can reach the dairy industry and consumers.