Veterinary antimicrobial residues in pork meat in Cyprus: An exposure assessment

Abstract

This work provides original analytical data on the levels of 45 commonly used veterinary antimicrobials in raw pork meat samples in Cyprus for six consecutive years between 2012 and 2017. A total of 15,484 raw pork meat samples were collected and screened for antibiotic residues by a microbiological screening method. A total of 1766 samples which were found suspected positive for antimicrobial residues were analyzed by means of a tandem LC–MS/MS confirmatory method. Thirteen veterinary antimicrobials were detected in 596 positive samples, with a detection frequency of 3.8% and nine antimicrobials exceeded the Maximum Residue Limits. The estimated daily exposure dose was found to be less than 1.8 μg/kg/day for all the compounds in both men and women above twenty years of age. These findings suggest that raw pork meat, do not present a potential health risk through its consumption in Cyprus.