CENTER OF FOOD

TECHNOLOGY
INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL
STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD

ANTIBIOTIC
RESIDUES IN
FOOD PRODUCTS
PRESENTED BY-
AQSA AZAM
M.Sc. FT SEM III
Contents

Definition and benefits of antibiotics

Classification of antibiotics
Antibiotics in food
Commonly used antibiotics
Residues of antibiotics and their sources
Detection methods
Antibiotic residues in milk ,eggs and meat
Guidelines in certain countries
Antibiotic residues in vegetables
 INRODUCTON
• Antibiotics were first used in veterinary medicine for the
treatment of mastitis in dairy cows shortly after they were
developed
• Antibiotics are used as enhancers of growth and feed
efficiency of food animals
• Now the range of veterinary medicines used in or on food
animals is extremely wide may be as hormones, as veterinary
pharmaceuticals, as feed additives, as anti-infectives
parasiticides.
• CODEX Alimentarius Commission. 1993. has given List of
Codex MRLs for vet drugs, In Residues of vet drugs in foods
first time.
 Definition Of Antibiotics
Antibiotic refers to the substances produced by
microorganisms that act against other
microorganisms.
they are naturally occurring metabolites derived
from fungi or bacteria.
They are able to kill microorganisms or inhibit
their growth.
Benefits of Antibiotic usage in
animals
They help in:
Reduction of animal pain and suffering
Assurance of continuous production of foods of
animal origin
Prevention or minimizing shredding of bacteria
into the environment and the food chain.
Production of better quality of products.
 Classification Of Antibiotics
Classified according to

Spectrum of • Broad spectrum

activity • Narrow spectrum

Effect on • Bactericidal
bacteria • Bacteriostatic

• Inhibitors of cell wall synthesis

• Inhibitors of cell membrane
Mode of action function
• Inhibitors of protein synthesis
• Inhibitors of nucleic acid
synthesis
• Inhibitors of other metabolic
process
 1- Spectrum Of Activity
 Classification according to spectrum of activity depends on the
range of bacterial species susceptible to antibiotics as

Broad spectrum

●
eg- tetracyclines ,phenicales

Narrow spectrum

●
eg- polymyxins are usually only effective again gram
(-) bacteria.
 2- Effect On Bacteria
 They may be-

Bactericidal

●
e.g.- Amino glycosides ,penicillin

Bacteriostatic

●
e.g.- tetracycline, sulphonamides
 3- Mode Of Action
 Inhibitors of cell wall synthesis: e.g. penicillin
cephalosporins.
 Inhibitors of cell membrane function: can also cause
disruption or damage to host cells because both eukaryotic
and prokaryotic cells have membrane. e.g. polymyxin b
 Inhibitors of protein synthesis: several types of
antibacterial agents target bacterial protein synthesis by
binding to their 30s and 50s subunits of ribosomes.
 Inhibitors of nucleic acid synthesis- some antibiotics work
by binding to components involved in the process of DNA
or RNA synthesis. e.g. quinolines.
 Inhibitors of other metabolic process- e.g. sulphonamides
disrupt folic acid pathway.
 Antibiotics In Food
Antibiotics are routinely fed to animals such as cattle,
pigs, poultry animals .
Antibiotic treatment of an animal includes treatment
when
1. Ill(therapeutic),
2. treatment of a herd of animals when at least one is
diagnosed as ill (metaphylaxis) and
3. Preventative treatment (prophylaxis).
 Their residues in food of animal origin such as milk, eggs
or meat represent a potential health risk to consumer
Sources Of Drug Residue
 Commonly Used Antibiotics
Some of the commonly used antibiotics are

Bacitracin: It belongs to the group polypeptide

antibiotics and has a mixture of different
polypeptides
Chinolones: The quinolones or chinolones are a
family of broad spectrum antibiotic drugs. Fluoro
quinolones are broad spectrum antibiotics against
lot of bacterial species used specially for cattle,
pigs and chicken.
Chloramphenicol : It is a broad spectrum
antibiotic frequently employed in animal
production for its excellent antibacterial and
pharmacokinetic properties.
Nitro furans : They have been used as growth
promoters during the production shrimp, poultry
and pigs
 Streptomycin: In veterinary medicine
streptomycin one of the mostly used antibiotics
for the treatment of mastitis.
Beta lactams (penicillin):They are classified by
their chemical structure in several sub-groups,
whereas the most important one are penicillin's
and cephalosporin.

Sulfonamides: They are widely used feed

additives mainly for fattening of calves and pigs.

Tetracycline: Aureomycin was the first antibiotic

substance of the group of tetracycline.
Detection Of Antibiotic Residues In Food
6 method for detection of antibiotic Residue
in food include
1. Microbial Growth Inhibition Essay
2. Microbial Receptor Essay
3. Enzymatic Coulometry Essay
4. Receptor Binding Assay
5. Chromatographic Analysis
6. Immunoassay

ELISA (Enzyme-linked Immuno Sorbent Assay)

It is most widely used immunoassay technique
in analysis of food
 Health hazards associated
with antibiotic reidues
Many human and animal health concern have been expressed
over the years in the regard. to the overuse of antibiotics.
 ALLERGIC OR HYPERSENSITIVITY REACTIONS
1. Potential for allergic reaction in sensitized
individuals( penicillin)
2. Toxicity such age aplasia of the bone marrow
(chloramphenicol).
 DISRUPTION OF NORMAL INTESTINAL FLORA
1. Effects on human gut microbial populations.
DRUG RESISTANCE
1. Emergence of resistant bacteria within animals and the
transfer of antibiotic resistance genes to human
pathogens.
CARCINOGENIC EFFECT
1. In addition some compounds such as the
Nitrofurans have been found to be animal
carcinogens and mutagens i.e. cause
mutations is DNA of an organism.
Maximum Residue limit-
In Canada limit has been established for drug Residue
in food in the form of tolerance and maximum
Residue limits MRLs
The term MRL may be defined as the maximum limit
of marked Residue example metabolites resulting
from the use of the veterinary drug expressed in
parts per million on a fresh weight basis that is legally
permitted acceptable in our own food
• The MRL is based on ADI (Acceptable
Daily Intake)
• It is rough estimate of the amount of veterinary drug
expressed on a body weight basis that can be ingested
daily over a lifetime without appreciable toxicology health
risk
• Calculation of ADI of a veterinary drug-

ADI(mg/kg/day)= NOEL(no observable effect level

SF (safety factor)
 Residues In Milk And Eggs
 The frequent use of antibiotic in clinical practice
causes the occurrence of Antibiotic residues in various
food products of animal origin.
Presence of drugs or Antibiotic residues in food above
the maximum acceptable levels has been recognized
world wide by various Public Authorities
Antibiotic residues in milk and eggs of
commercial and local farms at
Chittagong ,Bangladesh were analysed.
The study was conducted during December
2011 to June 2012.
The study aimed at estimating the residue
levels of four commonly used Antibiotic in
milk samples using three analytical
methods i.e. ELISA, TLC and HPLC.
Tetracycline amoxicillin and ciprofloxacin
residues were significantly higher in
commercial farms than local.
The tests were done for ciprofloxacin,
streptomycin, tetracycline and
sulphanilamide residues.
 In meat
A similar study was conducted to quantitatively study meat
antibiotic residues.
Overall ELISA showed that 56, 34, 18 and 25.3 percent of
the samples tested positive for the four of the drugs.
Where as TLC detected 21.4, 29.4, 92.5 and 14.6 percent.
While HPLC detected 8.3, 41.1, 88.8 and 14.6 percent of
the samples containing the residues
 Regulations By Some Countries
The use of drugs in food animals is regulated in
nearly all countries.
 Historically this has been to prevent alteration or
contamination of milk, meat, eggs, honey and
other products with toxins that are harmful to
humans
Some of the countries practice the following rules.
Canada.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)
enforces standards which protect consumers by
ensuring that food produced will not contain
antibiotics at a level which will cause harm to
consumers.
European Union
In 2011, the European Parliament voted for a non-
binding resolution that called for the end of pre-
emptive use of Antibiotic in livestock. I
India
According to a policy set by the Indian
Government schedules are set requiring that food
producing animals not be given antibiotics for a
certain amount of times before their food goes to
the market.
 According to CSE India has not set any limits for
antibiotic residues in chicken and says that India
will have to implement a set of regulations
including banning of Antibiotic use as growth
promoters in the poultry industry.
Private entities
Some grocery stores have policies about
voluntarily not selling meat produced by using
Antibiotics to stimulate growth.
In 2012 in the Unites States Advocacy
Organization Consumers Union organized a
petition asking the store “ Trader Joe’s “ to
discontinue sale of meat produced with antibiotics
How to reduce the risk of antibiotic residue
violations

Follow label directions for approved drugs.

Extra-label use of antibiotic only under
veterinarian guidance.
Identify treated animals and milk into
separate buckets.
Establish a herd health management
program
Use antibiotic residue screening tests for
treated animal products.
 Antibiotic Residues In Vegetables

Research shows that people may be ingesting

Antibiotics from vegetables, perhaps even ones
grown on organic farm was
The presence of Antibiotics within the food chain
is likely to increase through soil.
A study was conducted in Minnesota to analyse
presence of drug residue in veg.
The Minnesota Researchers planted corn, green onion
and cabbage in manure treated soil in 2005 to
evaluate the environmental impacts of feeding
Antibiotics to livestock.
Six week later the crops were found to absorb
chlortetracycline, a drug widely used to treat diseases
in livestock.
According to Holly Delliver “ around 90% of these
drugs that are administered to animals are being
excreted as urine or manure”.
 Conclusion
 As the world's population continues to grow, animal
production practices will need to become more intensive
and efficient, and may be accompanied by increasing
demands for drug treatment.
 New knowledge and technologies in the field of food-
animal production and control are constantly being
developed.
 It is our responsibility also to develop communications
strategies through which we can share this information
with one another.
 Many human and animal health concern have been
expressed over the years in the regard to the overuse of
antibiotics.
 REFRENCES
Bogaerts, R., and F. Wolf. 1999. A standardized
method for the detection of residues of anti-
bacterial substances in fresh meat.
Fleischwirtschaft 60:672-673.
Booth, J. M. 2004. Antibiotic residues in milk. In
Pract. 4:100-109.
Codex Alimentarius Commission. 1993. List of
Codex MRLs for vet drugs. In Residues of vet drugs
in foods, volume 3, section 1.FAO/WHO, Rome.
Code of Federal Regulations. 1994. 21 CFR I, part
556 (1 April). U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, Food and Drug Administration.
Thank You