Veterinary Research Communications, 29(Suppl. 2) (2005) 113–116 DOI: 10.1007/s11259-005-0022-4 C  Springer 2005 Presence of Residues in Food of Animal Origin and Related Risk G. Pompa ∗ , F. Arioli and M.L. Fracchiolla Department of Veterinary Sciences and Technologies for Food Safety, University of Milan, Milan, Italy ∗ Correspondence: E-mail: giuseppe.pompa@unimi.it Pompa, G., Arioli, F. and Fracchiolla, M.L., 2005. Presence of residues in food of animal origin and related risk. Veterinary Research Communications, 29(Suppl. 2), 113–116 ABSTRACT The risk related to the presence of residues in food of animal origin has to be carefully evaluated and it is important to distinguish between the residues of veterinary drugs and environmental contaminants. The first are easily monitored and only difficultly and occasionally exceed MRL concentrations, whereas the second ones can have prolonged and high level exposures. The Safety Margins of environmental contaminants are thus lower, and the risk increases for high level consumers. It is therefore important to ovoid transfer of pollutants to food of animal origin, especially when local contamination occur. Keywords: arsenic, dioxin, mercury, PCB, residues, risk Abbreviations: ADI, Acceptable Daily Intake; ATSDR, U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Reg- istry; EU SCF, European Scientific Committee on Food HI, Hazard Index; MRL, Maximum Residue Level; TDI, Tolerable Daily Intake; RfD, Chronic Reference Dose The presence of xenobiotic residues (drugs, natural and artificial hormones, environmental contaminants) in food of animal origin is often a cause of concern for consumers. The producers of food of animal origin are thus stimulated to look for better controls and alternative breeding methods to assure a reduction of the chemical risk. In order to satisfy this requirement it is necessary to consider that the presence of various residues in different food (meat, eggs, milk) causes different risks: it could be appropriate therefore to create a list of priorities (scores) that indicates the substances subject to primary care. It is evident that a further reduction of the chemical risk can be achieved by a better control or by limiting the use of authorized veterinary drugs. In order to evaluate the efficacy of a rigorous control on drugs, however, it is necessary to quantify the risk linked to the presence of drug residues in food, estimating the the amount exposed to the consumer. Useful data can be obtained from the results of the 2003 Italian National Residual Program in Lombardy (PNR Lombardia, 2003), one of the regions with the highest livestock resources. Tissue samples from 848 calves and cows, 961 swine and from 380 poultry (fowls, hens and other species) were analysed to check for the presence of drug residues. The percentage of positive samples (exceeding MRL) were 0.2, 1.5 and 0.8% respectively. 113