24.05.2011
Treatment of animals with medicines for the prevention or cure of diseases may lead to medicinal residues in the food products derived from those animals. EFSA’s Dietary and Chemical Monitoring Unit has issued a report on the occurrence of veterinary drugs residues in animals and animal products in Europe. The report is based on data for 2009 provided by the EU Member States to the European Commission.
In the framework of article 31 of Regulation EC 178/2002, the European Commission asked the European Food Safety Authority to analyse the results of residue monitoring in live animals and animal products in the Member States. The EFSA report summarises the monitoring data from 2009.
Regulation (EU) No 37/2010 establishes maximum limits for residues of veterinary medicinal products in food-producing animals and animal products. Council Directive 96/23/EC lays down measures to monitor certain substances and residues thereof, mainly veterinary medicinal products, in live animals and animal products. Additionally, Commission Decision 97/747/EC lays down levels and frequencies of sampling for certain animal products.
As stated in the 2008 report, the current residue database hosted by the European Commission does not contain the total number of samples (compliant and non-compliant) tested for each individual substance. Consequently, it was not possible to calculate the percentage of positive samples for a specific substance and ascertain whether these vary significantly between successive years. Differences in the number of non-compliant results seen overall, for a group of substances or for an individual substance, could thus be due either to a higher number of tests performed, or to a higher non-compliant rate. Also, it was not possible to identify the samples non-compliant for more than one substance.
Altogether, there were 764 736 samples reported in the framework of the 2009 residue monitoring in the EU. A total of 484 087 samples (445 968 targeted samples, 38 119 suspect samples) were reported under the Council Directive 96/23/EC. Additionally, one Member State reported 280 649 samples for inhibitor tests which were not included in the overall assessment.
The minimum requirements for sampling frequency laid down in Council Directive 96/23/EC and in Commission Decision 97/747/EC have been fulfilled in 2009 for the EU overall, and by the vast majority of the individual Member States.
From the total of collected targeted samples, 40.9 % were analysed for substances having anabolic effect and prohibited substances (group A) and 63.1 % for veterinary drugs and contaminants (group B). There were 1 406 non-compliant samples (0.32 %) (1 493 non-compliant results) out of the 445 968 targeted samples. This situation was similar to the one in 2008 when 0.34 % of the targeted samples were non-compliant. The percentage of non-compliant samples calculated from the total number of samples analysed for substances in that category was: 0.18 % for substances having anabolic effect and prohibited substances (A), 0.21 % for antibacterials (B1), 0.30 % for “other veterinary drugs” (B2), and 1.08 % for “other substances and environmental contaminants” (B3).
Of all the targeted samples analysed for the category “hormones” in all animal/product categories, 0.26 % were non-compliant. As in 2008, there were no non-compliant samples for stilbenes and derivatives (A1). For antithyroid agents (A2), there were 0.46 % non-compliant samples, all for thiouracil, but most likely caused by feeding cruciferous plants. In the group of steroids (A3), which includes some results on corticosteroids, there have been 0.39 % non-compliant samples in all animal and product categories. The non-compliant samples were found in bovines (0.34 %), pigs (0.30 %), sheep and goats (3.65 %), horses (1.27 %), p