For food producers, use of pharmacological products is essential in order to ensure that animal diseases are controlled. This constitutes part of the responsible care of animals and is also financially essential for food producers. To ensure that pharmacological agents are used safely and that they do not pose risk to consumers of animal products, SGS Food Safety Labs are able to provide producers with accredited food testing, allowing them to assure consumers that their food products satisfy statutory requirements.
Taunusstein, Hesse -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/27/2010 -- Hormones, antimicrobials and anti-inflammatory drugs are lawfully used in many of the most significant meat-producing nations to promote animal growth and health. These veterinary drugs also help to minimise feeding times and act as prophylactics against disease. The extent and importance of the use of such substances is such that nearly half of those animal drugs used around the world are animal feed additives.
Nonetheless, to ensure that the use of these products do not enter the food chain and that they are therefore safe for consumers, it is essential that doses are administered within regulated levels and that producers allow adequate withdrawal times after administration of pharmaceuticals.
Human Health Effects
Where appropriate safety measures are not adhered to, ingestion of veterinary drug residues can have negative health effects for humans. Not only are some such substances directly toxic for humans, drug residues have been linked to the emergence of human disease causing bacteria that are drug resistant. The European Union moved in 1988 to contain the effects of the growth agents used in animal rearing by banning the import of animal products from nations allowing the use of these substances.
With the introduction of targeted statutory regulations, international and regional organisations including the Codex Alimentarius Commission are endeavouring to harmonize the range of existing national legislations that regulate animal drug residues.
These legislations, found worldwide, already provide strict regulation for residues. Such regulations typically involve a number of measures to ensure that standards are met. In a number of countries food-producing animals are monitored (http://www.foodsafety.sgs.com/veterinary-drug-residues.htm ) by control systems existing to detect either excessively high levels of legal drug residues or to detect residues of illegal drugs. In addition to this, monitoring systems are used to enforce appropriate withdrawal times between drug administration and slaughter, as well to generally regulate the use of veterinary drugs.
In addition to these measures samples of animal products will be tested via comprehensive lab analysis, again targeted at identifying any problematic residues.
Responsibilities of Producers
As a producer, your brand, profits and track record depend on your ability to ensure that there are no drug residues in any of the animal based foods that you import, process or produce. This is especially true given the legislation and government control systems which define maximum permitted limits that are applicable to producers, processers, importers and exporters. Furthermore, adherence to prescribed doses, labelling requirements and drug withdrawal times as well as the maintenance of accurate treatment records are essential to farmers.
With the resources provided by SGS, you can receive effective help with:
• regulatory knowledge database applicable to each market’s various food product types
• extensive competence in the provision of drug analytics for animals (http://www.foodsafety.sgs.com/food-chemical-analysis.htm)
You can offer your customers assurance that your products satisfy all statutory requirements (http://www.foodsafety.sgs.com/food-testing-and-analysis.htm) by using the full range of analytics offered by SGS. Using accredited LC-MS (liquid chromatography & mass spectrometry) analysis processes, SGS food safety labs are able to isolate specific substance groups. For the varying range of pharmacological substances found in animal food products, expert SGS teams can measure and determine maximum residue levels.
The services and results provided by SGS can also be used by associations or consumer protection organisations to implement their monitoring strategies.
Contact details:
SGS Consumer Testing Services
Rainer Hofmann
Laboratory Manager SGS INSTITUT FRESENIUS GmbH
Im Maisel 14
65232 Taunusstein, Germany
t +49 761 296 48 24 ext.1051
E-mail: rainer.hofmann@sgs.com
Website: http://www.foodsafety.sgs.com/index.htm
The SGS Group is the global leader and innovator in inspection, verification, testing and certification services. Founded in 1878, SGS is recognized as the global benchmark in quality and integrity. With 59,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1,000 offices and laboratories around the world.