Fast antimicrobial screen test

Notes STOP = swab test on premises, measures antibiotic residues in the kidney FAST = fast antimicrobial screen test, measures antibiotic and sulfonamide residue in kidney and liver SOS = sulfa-on-site, measures for sulfonamide residues. 

Fru thermore, 156,078 samples from cattle, sheep/lambs, goats, swine, and other animals were screened for antibiotics and sulfonamide drug residues using the fast antimicrobial screen test (FAST) developed in 1991 to replace CAST and STOP. There were 1022 violations for cattle and 2 for swine samples. In cattle, violative cases included 335 for penicillin, 142 for streptomycin, 128 for tetracycline, 28 for erythromycin, 48 for neomycin, 174 for oxytetracycline, 17 for chlortetracycline, 109 for gentamicin, 87 for sulfamethazine, 22 for sulfamethoxazole, 141 for sulfadimethoxine, 7 for sulfachlorpyridazine, 2 for tylosin, and 19 for sulfathiazole. In swine, violative samples were limited to one for oxytetracycline and one for penicillin. Analogous surveys conducted in 1995 showed 804 violative specimens of the 68,139 samples tested. 

The calf antibiotic and sulfa test (CAST), the fast antimicrobial screen test (FAST), and the swab test on premises (STOP) are all bacterial inhibition tests developed at the US Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Services to screen kidneys for antimicrobial drug residues at slaughter (97-101). For CAST and FAST, an incision is made with a knife, whereas for STOP the tissue is macerated with the shaft of the swab. For all three tests, cotton swabs are inserted into kidney tissue to soak up fluids. Swabs are then incubated on inoculated medium with a disc containing an antibiotic standard used to monitor the viability of the organism and its growth inhibition. 

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