Detection of antibiotic residues in poultry carcasses in Mashhad poultry abattoir

Abstract

In poultry breeding, use of any antibiotics as a food additive that promotes growth, prevention or treatment of infectious diseases will increase the chance of drug residues in poultry meat products. In this study, the presence of different antibiotics in ten broiler flocks, which were later transported to Mashhad poultry abattoir have been investigated, using four plate test (FPT) method. A total of one hundred breast muscle and sixty liver samples (10 breast muscles and 6 liver samples from each flock) were collected randomly. The results of this study showed, the 18.75% of samples were positive for antibiotic residues and 6.88% of samples were suspected. The results also showed that sulfonamides residue in meat and liver samples were higher than other investigated antibiotics (22% in meat and 11.7% in livers). It can be concluded that the withdrawal time of antibiotics before slaughter has been ignored in many of these farms therefore, the administration of antibiotics in poultry farms must be more rigidly controlled to prevent drug residues in food-producing animals.

Keywords

• antibiotic residues
• poultry
• meat, liver
• withdrawal time
• four plate test