Abstract
A cross sectional survey was conducted in three major poultry markets at Enugu Urban area of Enugu State, South Eastern, Nigeria, to determine the prevalence of antimicrobial residues in commercial broiler birds using Premi? Test Kit. Antimicrobials generally due to their availability over the counter and non-enforcement of legislature on irrational use are often abused in both veterinary and medical practice in most developing countries. The misuse and overuse of these drugs lead to deposition of violative levels of antimicrobial residues in animal tissues meant for human consumption with several health consequences when consumed. Premi? Test like all other microbiological tests is based on the principle of inhibition and was able to detect antibiotic residues in 42 (60%) of the 70 sampled commercial birds from three major poultry markets in the study area. It detected also residues in 90 out of the 280 different organ matrices made up of 70 samples of each organ, of which Kidney was the highest at 48.6%, Gizzard (30.1%), liver (25.8%), and muscle (24.3%) in that order. No association was found between the occurrence of antibiotic residues and the location of the poultry markets sampled at P
Highlights
Poultry industry is one of the fastest means of ameliorating the animal protein deficiency in Nigeria
The incubator was pre-heated for 10 minutes and the ampoules incubated at 64 ̊C for 3 - 4 hours until the negative control turned yellow. Those ampoules that remained purple after incubation were recorded as positive for antimicrobial residues, those that turned yellow were negative and those that were bluish to yellow were recorded as undecided for antibiotic residues
The 60% prevalence of antibiotic residues in commercial birds in this study is a clear indication that consumers may be exposed to violative levels of antimicrobial residues and this is consequent upon abuse and misuse of antimicrobials and most importantly, non-observance of withdrawal period
Summary
Poultry industry is one of the fastest means of ameliorating the animal protein deficiency in Nigeria. The need to meet up with the demand for poultry meat has necessitated the large scale production of poultry and subsequent use of veterinary drugs, especially antimicrobials These antimicrobials are used in poultry farming for therapeutic purposes and are added in feed and water in sub-therapeutic doses for prophylaxis and growth promotion [1]. Presence of drugs or antibiotics residues in food above the maximum level is recognized worldwide by various public health authorities as being illegal [2] and their consumption could result in public health hazards including: development of resistant strains of microorganisms, hypersensitive reaction in sensitised individuals [3,4] and distortion of intestinal microflora [5,6], and [7] have suggested economic losses in the food industry especially in interfering with starter culture in yoghurt and cheese production consequent upon the presence of antibiotics residues in milk Detection of these residues in foods of animal origin intended for human consumption is essential for the safety of consumers. Premi® Test is a microbial screening test for the OPEN ACCESS
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