{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T17:51:56Z","timestamp":1785433916640,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,26]],"date-time":"2026-05-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779753600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Federal Centre for Animal Health"},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01vdscs87","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Antibiotics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Residues of \u03b2-lactam antibiotics in foods of animal origin are important for official residue control and public-health risk assessment. Sample storage conditions may affect the measured concentrations of these analytes, whereas cooking may influence consumer exposure. This study evaluated the stability of six \u03b2-lactam antibiotics\u2014amoxicillin, ampicillin, phenoxymethylpenicillin, benzylpenicillin, cefazolin, and cefotaxime\u2014and clavulanic acid, a \u03b2-lactamase inhibitor, in chicken meat during storage and thermal processing. Methods: Incurred chicken meat samples were obtained after in vivo administration of the studied compounds. Stability was assessed during storage at +4 \u00b0C, \u221220 \u00b0C, and \u221286 \u00b0C for up to 165 days, during repeated freeze\u2013thaw handling, and during heating at 100 \u00b0C for up to 30 min. The target compounds were quantified by HPLC\u2013MS\/MS after acetonitrile extraction and hexane clean-up. Results: The studied compounds were unstable at +4 \u00b0C, with concentrations decreasing below the detection limit within 3\u201327 days depending on the compound. Storage at \u221220 \u00b0C was insufficient for long-term preservation of most penicillins, whereas \u221286 \u00b0C improved stability. Cefazolin was the most stable compound under the tested storage conditions, while cefotaxime was the least stable. Heating at 100 \u00b0C for 30 min caused substantial reduction in parent-compound concentrations, ranging from 63.8 \u00b1 4.0% for cefazolin to complete disappearance below the detection limit for cefotaxime. Conclusions: For reliable official residue analysis, chicken meat samples intended for \u03b2-lactam testing should be stored at \u221286 \u00b0C whenever long-term storage is required. Repeated thawing should be avoided. Cooking substantially reduces the concentrations of the parent compounds but cannot be considered a reliable safety measure, because degradation may be incomplete and degradation products were not assessed in this study.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/antibiotics15060539","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,26]],"date-time":"2026-05-26T08:16:08Z","timestamp":1779783368000},"page":"539","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Beta-Lactam Antibiotic Stability in Chicken Meat"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Ekaterina","family":"Usanova","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Federal Center for Animal Health, 600901 Vladimir, Russia"},{"name":"Department of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1733-4969","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mikhail","family":"Vokuev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2483-9217","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Artem","family":"Melekhin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Federal Center for Animal Health, 600901 Vladimir, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Denis","family":"Bulkatov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Special Mechanical Engineering, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, 105005 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3993-8528","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Parfenov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Baltic Control, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Victor","family":"Tishchenko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Federal Center for Animal Health, 600901 Vladimir, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anna","family":"Sherstneva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"112829","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ejmech.2020.112829","article-title":"\u03b2-lactam antibiotics: An overview from a medicinal chemistry perspective","volume":"208","author":"Lima","year":"2020","journal-title":"Eur. 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