Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
some examples implementing LC
Orbitrap instrumentation.
These examples demonstrate its capability in resolving analytical issues, particularly
through the molecular identi
-
HRMS using LTQ
-
cation of unknown compounds that can be achieved
only with HRMS.
7.2
ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH VETERINARY DRUG RESIDUES AND
EUROPEAN REGULATIONS
Veterinary drugs are used to treat various infectious diseases in food-producing
animals, poultry,
t. Improper use of
veterinary drugs by way of overdosage or not giving enough withdrawal time after
treatment can result in the presence of drug residues in foods of animal origin intended
for human consumption. As a result of stern safety requirements for food stuffs, the
control of residues from veterinary medicinal products has become a subject of prime
regulatory concern to the EU and other authorities. To protect human health, tolerance
levels known as maximum residue limits (MRLs) in food products have been set by
several countries around the world and recommended at the international level
through the Codex Alimentarius (FAO/WHO) [16]. In the EU, procedures for setting
MRLs are governed by a recent Regulation (EC) No. 470/2009 replacing the previous
Regulation (EC) No. 2377/90 that dated from 1990 [1]. These limits support the
Regulations governing food safety in terms of the residues of veterinary drugs in the
tissues or
fish, and so on in order to gain more pro
fluids of production animals that may enter the human food chain. These
MRLs are calculated based on toxicological data and account for safety coef
cients
that can be a factor of 10 or even 100, depending on the compound considered and its
potential harmful effects on humans. Another Regulation (EC) No. 37/2010 lists these
compounds [17]. It consists of two tables of substances
Table 1 listing all authorized
chemical drug compounds and Table 2 listing those banned in the EU
—
together with
the maximum permissible limits at which they can be present in various foods of
animal/bio-origin. As a result, every Member State of the EU has a legal obligation to
monitor VMPRs in foods. In principle, there are two types of regulatory monitoring
programs for these residues. One concerns direct, on-site targeted compound mon-
itoring organized at
—
fish farms), slaughter
(abattoirs), or product collection (dairies and egg hatcheries). In this case, the animals
or their products are withheld by the competent veterinary services until it can be
proven that they present no risk to public health. The other type of program consists in
organizing a national residue control plan with the purpose of assessing the degree of
compliance of overall national production, without excluding animals and their
products from the market, but allowing the veterinary services to carry out rigorous
inspections if the degree of compliance should fall. This type of monitoring is
described at the EU community level in a Directive [18] that is in the process of
revision in the framework of the regulations
the point of production (animal or
“
on of
cial controls performed to ensure
the veri
cation of compliance with feed and food law, animal health, and animal
welfare rules
”
[19]. Directive 96/23/EC speci
es the number of samples to be
