Scholarly record

ON THE ISSUE OF TETRACYCLINE ANTIBIOTICS STANDARDIZATION IN ANIMAL SOURCE FOODS (LITERATURE REVIEW)

Н.В. Зайцева, П.З. Шур, Dmitry Suvorov, Sergey E. Zelenkin, Thu Hien Dung

Abstract

Antibacterial preparations are widely used in agriculture worldwide to achieve a wide range of effects, including therapeutic and preventive ones; they are also used as forage additives to stimulate animal growth. Since the issue related to the development of antibiotic-resistant microorganism strains has become vital, the use of antibiotics in agriculture is strictly regulated. Thus, in the European Union (EU) countries and Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries, antibacterial preparations can be used in treatment. Although antibiotics are used now in limited quantities, they persist in various animal source foods, and it requires a well-grounded approach to control them in food products bearing in mind safety for human health. Antibacterial preparations from the tetracycline group (tetracycline, chlortetracycline, oxytetracycline, and doxycycline) are widely used in agriculture. Thus, the World Health Organization recommends taking into account toxicological, pharmacological, and microbiological (influence on human microbiota and assessment whether potential resistance might occur) effects produced by antibacterial preparations when establishing safe residual quantities of veterinary preparations in food products. To establish MRL, the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) took a unified microbiological ADI for the tetracycline group equal to 3 ?g/kg of body weight that was obtained in examinations in vivo. At the same time, the Joint Expert Committee on Food additives (JECFA) used a unified ADI for the tetracycline group equal to 30 ?g/kg of body weight calculated in examinations in vitro. In the EAEU countries, a unified ADI was established equal to 3.2 ?g/kg of body weight based on mathematical modeling of dependence between tetracycline concentration and a share of various inhibited bacteria strains MIC50 and MIC90 values. The MRL suggested by Codex Alimentarius Commission is two times higher than European ones (for example, MPL of tetracyclines in meat amounts to 200 ?g/kg and 100 ?g/kg accordingly) these differences are not substantiated. MRLs established in the EAEU counties do not allow contents of tetracycline, chlortetracycline, and oxytetracycline higher than 10 ?g/kg; doxycycline is excluded since its MRL is fixed at the same level as in Europe given the same toxicological and microbiological effects. At the same time, JECFA and EFSA do not allow doxycycline contents in milk and eggs, whereas other tetracyclines are allowed in these products. Therefore, there are differences in establishing MRLs of residual tetracyclines quantities in animal source foods regarding the applied criteria and specific preparations from this group. Since toxicological and microbiological effects produced by doxycycline are the same, it is advisable to assess the safety of the whole tetracycline group using a unified approach to establishing safe levels of tetracyclines contents in food products.

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