The thermal stability of antibiotics commonly detected in food is reviewed. To quantify degradation, 2 major techniques have been reported: liquid chromatography-based methods and microbiological tests. As the degradation products may also display some antimicrobial activity, microbiological tests may not be considered accurate analytical methods for quantifying antibiotic residues' degradation. Degradation percentages are summarized for different antibiotics and for various media (water, oil, milk, and animal tissues). Studies presented in the literature confirm that the thermal degradation of β-lactams, quinolones, sulfonamides, and tetracyclines can be described using a first-order kinetic model. Degradation rates, k, derived for this model for liquid matrix (water) at 100 °C, followed the general trend amongst antibiotic classes: β-lactams = tetracyclines (most heat-labile) > lincomycin > amphenicols > sulfonamides > oxfendazole > levamisole (most heat-stable). Although thermal processing results in a decrease in the concentration of parent antibiotic residues, degradation by-products have not been properly characterized to date. As some of these products were shown to be hazardous, further investigation is needed to determine their impact on food safety and human health. It is therefore currently difficult to definitively conclude whether or not antibiotic degradation during food processing is necessarily beneficial in terms of food safety.

对通常在食品中检测到的抗生素的热稳定性进行了综述。为了量化降解，已经报道了2种主要技术：基于液相色谱的方法和微生物学测试。由于降解产物还可能表现出一定的抗菌活性，因此微生物检测可能不被认为是定量分析抗生素残留降解的准确分析方法。总结了不同抗生素和各种介质（水，油，牛奶和动物组织）的降解百分比。文献中的研究证实，可以使用一级动力学模型描述β-内酰胺，喹诺酮，磺酰胺和四环素的热降解。此模型在100°C下针对液体基质（水）得出的降解率k遵循抗生素类别的总体趋势：β-内酰胺=四环素（最不耐热）>林可霉素>苯甲酚>磺胺类药物>奥芬达唑>左旋咪唑（最热稳定）。尽管热处理导致母体抗生素残留物浓度降低，但迄今为止尚未对降解副产物进行适当表征。由于其中一些产品被证明是有害的，因此需要进一步调查以确定它们对食品安全和人类健康的影响。因此，目前难以确切地得出结论，即食品加工过程中的抗生素降解是否必定有益于食品安全。尽管热处理导致母体抗生素残留物浓度降低，但迄今为止尚未对降解副产物进行适当表征。由于其中一些产品被证明是有害的，因此需要进一步调查以确定它们对食品安全和人类健康的影响。因此，目前难以确切地得出结论，即食品加工过程中的抗生素降解是否必定有益于食品安全。尽管热处理导致母体抗生素残留物浓度降低，但迄今为止尚未对降解副产物进行适当表征。由于其中一些产品被证明是有害的，因此需要进一步调查以确定它们对食品安全和人类健康的影响。因此，目前难以确切地得出结论，即食品加工过程中的抗生素降解是否必定有益于食品安全。