Chapter 10 Veterinary Drug Residues

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter describes various types of veterinary drugs that are used in food animals. Antibiotics are commonly administered to food animals both therapeutically and subtherapeutically. Several classes of antibiotics, anthelmintics, and antifungals are used in livestock veterinary medicine. Drugs administered to food animals to treat acute conditions include tranquilizers and anti-inflammatory drugs. The chapter discusses human health effects from veterinary drug residues. Potential human health problems include adverse reactions to the drug residues themselves or the possible development of resistant bacterial populations in the food supply. There are a few limited reports of allergic responses caused by drug residues in foods. Analysis of veterinary-drug residues in food of animal origin is presented in the chapter. The chapter discusses methods for the analyses of sulfonamides in milk and dairy products, chloramphenicol in shellfish, nitrofurans in various foods, and triphenylmethane dyes in farmed fish and shrimp. It is not possible to obtain an absolute accounting of the rate of occurrence of violative veterinary-drug residues in human food. The violation rate can depend greatly not only on the specific residue and matrix but also on the number of samples analyzed and the type of methodology utilized.