Residues of veterinary drugs and other substances found in animals and animal-derived food continue to decline in the European Union and compliance levels are on the rise, the latest data reveals.

 

EFSA’s annual report for 2021 includes data reported by Member States*, Iceland and Norway. The number of tested samples slightly increased compared to 2020.

 

* Pursuant to Article 5(4) and Section 24 of Annex 2 of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, which is an integral part of the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, the EU requirements on data sampling are also applicable to Northern Ireland and, for the purpose of this report, references to Member States are read as including the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland.

 

 

The report summarises the monitoring data collected in 2021 on the presence of residues of veterinary medicinal products and other substances such as environmental contaminants in live animals and animal products in the European Union, Iceland, Norway and United Kingdom (Northern Ireland). A total of 621,205 samples were reported to the European Commission by the 27 EU Member States, Iceland, Norway and United Kingdom (Northern Ireland).

 

 

 

They consisted of 351,637-targeted samples and 4,562 suspect samples reported under Council Directive 96/23/EC, and of 2,803 samples collected on import and 262,203 samples collected in the framework of programmes developed under the national legislation. The majority of countries fulfilled the minimum requirements for sampling frequency laid down in Council Directive 96/23/EC and in Commission Decision 97/747/EC. Overall, the percentage of non‐compliant samples in 2021 (0.17%) was lower compared to the previous 12 years (0.19%‐0.37%).

 

The report covers various substance groups including hormones, antibacterials, environmental contaminants, prohibited substances and other veterinary drugs.

 

 

Compared to 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 results, in 2021 the frequency of non-compliant results decreased for antithyroid agents, while for steroids and resorcylic acid lactones the frequency of non-compliant results was higher than in 2020 but lower than in previous years. For prohibited substances, compared to 2020, the frequency of non-compliance in 2021 was higher, although in line with that of 2017 and 2018.

 

 

Decreases compared to all previous years were noted for other substances and environmental contaminants, chemical elements (including metals) and dyes. Compared to all previous years, a sharp increase was found for "other substances".

 

 

You can browse the results in more depth using our new interactive data visualisation tool.

 

 

 

The full dataset – comprising around 13 million analytical results – is available on the EFSA Knowledge Junction, an open repository, which aims to improve transparency, reproducibility, and re-usability of evidence in food and feed safety risk assessments.

 

 

 

Link

 

Report for 2021 on the results from the monitoring of veterinary medicinal product residues and other substances in live animals and animal products

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: © European Food Safety Authority