07.04.2012

Love et al. (2012) Environ Sci Technol

Antimicrobials used in poultry production have the potential to bioaccumulate in poultry feathers but available data are scarce. Following poultry slaughter, feathers are converted by rendering into feather meal and sold as fertilizer and animal feed, thereby providing a potential pathway for reentry of drugs into the human food supply. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) and Arizona State University analyzed feather meal samples (n=12) for 59 pharmaceuticals and personal care products. All samples tested positive and six classes of antimicrobials were detected, with a range of two to ten antimicrobials per sample. Most, but not all, of the antimicrobials detected in samples are approved for use in industrial poultry production. Fluoroquinolones (enrofloxacin, norofloxacin, or ofloxacin) were detected in 6 of 10 U.S. samples, which was not expected because fluoroquinolone use in U.S. poultry production has been banned since 2005. These findings may suggest that the ban is not being adequately enforced or that other pathways, for example, through use of commodity feed products from livestock industries not covered by the ban, may inadvertently contaminate poultry feed with fluoroquinolones. Furthermore, if feather meal with fluoroquinolone residues is fed back to poultry, this practice could create a cycle of re-exposure to the banned drugs.