Veterinary Drug Residues in Food-animal Products: Its Risk Factors and Potential Effects on Public Health

The use of veterinary drugs in food-producing animals has the potential to generate residues in animal derived products (meat, milk, eggs and honey) and poses a health hazard to the consumer. There are many factors influencing the occurrence of residues in animal products such as drug’s properties and their pharmacokinetic characteristics, physicochemical or biological processes of animals and their products. The most likely reason for drug residues might be due to improper drug usage and failure to keep the withdrawal period. The major public health significances of drug residue are development of antimicrobial drug resistance, hypersensitivity reaction, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, teratogenicity, and disruption of intestinal normal flora. The residual amount ingested is in small amounts and not necessarily toxic. However, there is limited information on the magnitude of veterinary drug residue worldwide. Hence, an extensive work has to be carried out to determine the magnitude of the problem, to prevent the occurrence of veterinary drug residues, and to familiarize all animal health professionals with the knowledge of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and toxicological effects of veterinary drugs to minimize the potential public health hazards due to drug residues in food of animal origin.