Safety evaluation of some retailed chicken meat products with special reference to their antibiotic residue in Egypt

Abstract

The demand for poultry meat and eggs has expanded in Egypt, which has leading to the intensification of agricultural practices and the usage of antimicrobials, especially tetracycline and sulfonamides. According to the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius committee, consumer, health was put at risk when antibacterial residue concentrations increase in foods to the maximum residual level. Therefore, this study has been conducted for determination of tetracycline and sulfadimidine residues in chicken meat and giblets. Therefore, 90 random samples of chicken meat, liver and gizzard (30 of each) were collected from Benha city, Qalubiya governorate, Egypt, , to estimate their contents of such antibacterial residues using high performance liquid chromatography. The obtained results indicated that 48.8% of the examined samples were positive for antibiotic residue. the examined samples 20, 33.3 and 40% of the chicken meat, gizzard and liver samples were positive for tetracycline residues with average concentrations of 116.9, 488.6 and 609.5 ppb; While, at the same time, sulfadimidine was detected in 13.3, 16.7 and 23.3% of the same examined samples mean values of 59.2, 97.6 and 144.9 ppb, respectively. Referring to the obtained results, the liver samples showed higher antibacterial residual rates, followed by gizzard and meat samples, respectively. Furthermore, conducting a strict monitoring measure over poultry rearing farms and retailers is highly recommended to avoid the emergence of public health hazards concerning these antibiotic residues.