Recent data on veterinary drug residues in animals and food shows 730,000 samples were reported in 2014 – a drop from the 1 million samples in last year’s report on 2013 data – from 28 EU Member States, according to the European Food Standards Agency.
The data report summarizes the monitoring data from 2014, including compliance rates with EU residue limits, for a range of veterinary medicines, unauthorized substances and contaminants found in animals and animal-derived food.
In 2014, the level of non-compliance in targeted samples (i.e. samples taken to detect illegal use or check non-compliance with the maximum levels) rose slightly – to 0.37%, compared to 0.25%-0.34% over the last seven years.
The report also noticed a slightly higher non-compliance for resorcylic acid lactones (hormonally active compounds produced by fungi or man-made) and contaminants such as metals and mycotoxins (toxins produced by fungi).
