Assessment on Chemicals and Drugs Residue in Dairy and Poultry Products in
Bishoftu and Modjo, Central Ethiopia
Takele Beyene
1*
, Abdulkaf Kemal
1
, Tariku Jibat
2
, Fanos Tadese
1
, Dinka Ayana
3
and Ashenafi Feyisa
1
1
Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture Addis Ababa University, P.O.Box 34, Bishoftu, Ethiopia
2
Department of Animal Production Science, College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture Addis Ababa University, P.O.Box 34, Bishoftu, Ethiopia
3
Department of Pathology and Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture Addis Ababa University, P.O.Box 34, Bishoftu, Ethiopia
*
Corresponding author: Takele Beyene, Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture Addis Ababa University, P.O.Box 34,
Bishoftu, Ethiopia, E-mail: takele.beyene@aau.edu.et
Rec Date: Feb 27, 2015; Acc Date: June 19, 2015; Pub Date: June 22, 2015
Copyright: © 2015 Beyene T, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Despite the growing of contamination of foods of animal origin with chemicals during production, processing and
storage, less attention being paid for the potentially present chemical residues in such foods (meat, milk, eggs and
their products). This study was carried out to assess the chemicals and veterinary drugs used, and their possible
occurrence as residue in dairy and poultry products in randomly selected dairy and poultry farms, and milk and
animal feed processing plants located in Bishoftu and Modjo, central Ethiopia through questionnaire and
observation. The result of this study showed that antibiotics, mainly penicillin-streptomycin and ampicillin-cloxacilin
combination were used in all dairy farms while oxytetracycline and sulfa drugs were used by 85.7% and 57.1% of
dairy farms. Oxytetracycline, amoxicillin, ciprofloxacillin, and sulfa drugs were used in 100%, 71.4%, 28.6%, and
28.6% of poultry farms, respectively. The study also revealed albendazole and ivermectin were commonly used in
96.4% and 71.4% of the dairy farms, respectively while piperazine was a common anthelmintic used in 31.0% of
poultry farms. The antiprotozoal drugs commonly used in poultry farm were amprolium (100%) and sulfa drugs
(26.3%) while the commonly used drug in dairy farms was sulfa drugs (50.0%). Antiseptics, namely, savlon (82.2%),
iodine tincture (53.3%) and denatured alcohol (53.3%) were commonly used in dairy farm whereas disinfectants,
such as, hydrogen peroxide (83.3%), sodium hydroxide (66.7%), and formalin (19.0%) were commonly used in
poultry farms though small number of dairy farms also used formalin (17.8%) and hydrogen peroxide (10.7%).
Among the rodenticides used in farms, zinc phosphide was used more in poultry farms (33.3%) than dairy farms
(14.3%). Different chemicals were also used in the milk and feed processing plants. We conclude that there are high
possibility of drug and chemical residues occurrence in poultry and dairy products in the area.
Keywords: Chemical; Drugs; Dairy products; Poultry; Residue;
Central Ethiopia
Introduction
Human beings consume protein-rich foods to supply their
nutritional requirements, mainly of animal origin. In several countries
the safety of such food has been focused on avoiding the transmission
of zoonotic diseases, however, less attention has been paid to
potentially present chemical residues [1]. Now days, increased
awareness of consumers about a growing chemicalization of animal
origin foods (meat, milk, eggs and their products) present a challenge
to the dairy, meat and poultry industry. A great number of chemical
compounds are used either directly or indirectly during the
production, processing and storage of it. Environmental pollution due
to increased urbanization and industrialization in conjunction with
the inappropriate use of veterinary drugs, on the other hand, may
induce the presence of residues in food products [2].
A chemical contaminant is a potentially harmful chemical
substance of anthropogenic or natural origin, which may be present in
food following deliberate treatment or accidental contamination
during the production, transformation or preservation of foodstuffs
[3]. Contamination of these foods with pathogenic microbes and
chemical residues can result during production at the farm level,
transportation, storage, distribution and preparation for consumption
[4].
Foods from animals can potentially be contaminated with one or
more of the thousands of manufactured chemicals, which are used in
society. Relatively few of these occur with any regularity in foods from
animals, and the most contentious residues (in terms of probability of
occurrence and impact on human health, trade or consumer
confidence) are antibacterial drugs, hormonal growth promoters or
production adjuncts, polyhalogenated hydrocarbon pesticides,
industrial chemicals and heavy metals [2,5]. Among the manufactured
chemicals, which occur in foods, are a large number of additives used
intentionally for production, processing or preservation purposes. A
few of these, for example, nitrites, are of concern if toxic metabolites
(e.g., nitrosamines) are allowed to form in foods prior to ingestion.
Chemical residues (such as iodine, chlorine or bromine) are also
contaminants of sanitation procedures, and others that occasionally
migrate from packaging materials [5].
In many cases, the long-term effects of antibiotics on human health
are not known, but they can, for example, provoke strong allergic
reactions in a previously sensitized individual. Despite their generally
non-toxic nature, β-lactams appear to be responsible for most of the
reported human allergic reactions to antimicrobials. Aminoglycosides,
sulfonamides and tetracyclines may also cause allergic reactions. In
exceptional cases, certain macrolides may be responsible for liver
Takele et al., J Nutr Food Sci 2015, S13:003
Research Article Open Access
J Nutr Food Sci Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food ISSN:2155-9600 JNFS, an open access
journal
DOI: 10.4172/2155-9600.S13-002
Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences
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ISSN: 2155-9600