Products

Veterinary Drug Residues

Veterinary drugs can be present in food of animal origin for different reasons as they are usually administered within animal husbandry to cure and prevent diseases, to increase weight gain and to tranquilise animals during transportation. The drug and/or its metabolites, particularly when the withdrawal time is respected, could be found in the animal tissues, milk, urine, etc. For honey, moreover, contamination might be unintentional as well, as it could result from bees flying over treated plants or drinking water next to farms. Veterinary drugs consist in a complex group of a couple of hundred substances belonging to different chemical classes and therapeutic areas i.e. antibiotics, antiparasitics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), growth promoters as steroid hormones and beta-agonists, and many others.

The widespread use of veterinary drugs in livestock is of great concern as their presence in edible products could induce severe consequences on human health: i.e. hepato- and nefro-toxicity, side effects, allergic reactions, sterility, cancer and, last but not the least, drugs contaminated food can favour anti-microbial resistance.

International regulations can differ to some extent, about setting specific limits or “zero tolerance”, however there is a need for an effective screening of both farmed animals and animal derived food.

Overview of WorldWide Regulatory Drug Limits

Eurofins Technologies kits for veterinary drug residues

Eurofins Technologies through its subsidiary Tecna provides rapid and reliable analytical tools for the analysis of the following substances in meat, egg, milk, honey, fish, crustaceans and molluscs:

Antimicrobials

•  Sulfonamides (1, 2)
•  Tetracyclines (2)
•  Quinolones (1, 2)
•  Aminoglicosides (gentamicin, neomycin, streptomycin)
•  Tylosin
•  Chloramphenicol
•  Nitrofuran metabolites (AOZ, AMOZ, SEM, AHD)
•  Nitroimidazoles (2)

Beta-agonists

•  Clenbuterol
•  Ractopamine
•  Beta-agonists (2)

Steroids and RALs

•  Zeranol
•  Trenbolone
•  Nandrolone (19-NOR)
•  Boldenone
•  Diethylstilbestrol
•  17-beta-estradiol
•  Testosterone

Others

• Corticosteroids (1, 2)

(1) B ZERO® format available: virtual master curve calibration

(2) Broad range kit: this kit can recognize a wide number of drugs belonging to the same substance