Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
2008). Despite strict legislation banning its utilization in food animal pro-
duction, in the EU, nitrofurans continue to be used due to their effectiveness
and availability, as is evident from the European Commission's Rapid Alert
System for Food and Feed (RASFF). The RASFF provides regulatory
authorities with an effective tool for the exchange of information regarding
measures taken to ensure food safety in EU Member States (MS) (European
Commission, 2008). Weekly overviews are available via the internet under
three sections, which include (i) alert notifications, sent when a food or feed
product presents a serious risk on the market and when immediate action is
required. Individual EU MS have their own mechanisms to carry out the
necessary measures. It also comprises (ii) information notifications,
concerning food or feed placed in the market and identified as a risk. Finally,
there are (iii) border rejections (new category since 2008), pertaining to food
and feed consignments that have been tested and rejected at the external
borders of the EU when a health threat was found. Such notifications are
transmitted to all border posts in order to reinforce controls and to ensure that
the rejected product does not re-enter the Community through another border
post [15].
Residues monitoring programmes have revealed that while most of the
incidences of nitrofuran metabolites in food are connected with illegal use of
these drugs, the same was not always true for nitrofurazone and its marker
semicarbazide (SEM) [72]. The emerging issue of the presence of
nitrofurazone metabolite SEM in edible tissue of non-animal origin has caused
an increase in public awareness in recent years. From the total of nitrofuran
metabolites notified by the RASFF, SEM was the highest of all nitrofuran
notifications from 2004 to 2006, although some decline in 2007 was evident.
Product notifications for SEM contamination have included not only food
stuffs of animal origin such as aquaculture products (shrimp, prawn and crab),
bovine and porcine tissue, poultry and chicken eggs but also in products such
as baby food and flour [15].
Findings of high volumes of SEM in baby food have caused great concern
for infant health and resulted in the development of appropriate detection
methods [73-74].
However, it has been shown that SEM in food may originate from other
sources, including environmental and those associated with food processing
and packaging materials. The origin of SEM in some products was suspected
to be structurally-related to azodicarbonamide (AZDC), a chemical blasting
agent in the production of plastic seals for lids on glass jars. This additive is
used to improve the properties of the plastic seals and prevent leakage and
