Abstract
Antibiotic residues in food of animal origin pose a threat to both human and animal’s health due to an increasing level of resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria to a wide range of antibiotic drugs. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the levels of oxytetracycline (OTC) residues in raw beef in Dodoma region, Tanzania. The OTC levels were determined by using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). A total of 60 beef samples were collected from various slaughterhouses and butcheries. Twenty-one out of 60 samples (35%) had OTC residues and no samples had OTC levels above the maximum allowed residues limits (200 µg/kg). The highest OTC concentration was 4.95 ng/g, while the mean concentration was 0.69 ± 0.09 ng/g. The obtained levels were not expected to induce adverse effects and the beef is safe for consumers. Though the findings indicates the meat in the market is safe for consumers, it calls for a proper management of antimicrobial drugs use for animal production as an additional advantage to consumers. Key words: Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), residues levels, raw beef, oxytetracycline.
Highlights
IntroductionThe care includes feeding, management and control of animal diseases
To obtain sound animal products from milk and meat, animals have to be kept healthy
A validated method was capable of detecting OTC residues in raw beef samples
Summary
The care includes feeding, management and control of animal diseases. Some of the drugs used for treatment of animal diseases in Tanzania include tetracyclines (TCs) and beta-lactams like penicillins and cephalosporin (Katakweba et al, 2013). The TCs which are among the first antibiotics, have bacteriostatic activity against both Gram-positive and negative bacteria and are widely used for the treatment of livestock (Nonga et al, 2009). The commonly used antibiotics in livestock production is the oxytetracycline. The presence of OTC, residues in raw beef may cause health problems to consumers, such as bone and teeth problems in children, gastrointestinal disturbance and hypersensitivity reactions (Larkin et al, 2004). The OTC is named [4S-4a,4a,5a,5a,6b,12a)]-4(dimethylamino)-,4, 4a, 5, 5a, 6, 11, 12a-octahydro-3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 12a-exahydoxy-6-methyl-1, 11-dioxo-2-
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