Investigation of Antibiotic Residues in Poultry Products in Meknes – Morocco

Abstract

Antibiotics are used in poultry farms to enhance growth, feed efficiency and reduce diseases.  However, their irrational and non-moderate using can cause serious problems for the consumer and the manufacturer. The aim of this study is to estimate antibiotics residues in poultry (chicken and turkey) tissues collected from broiler farms in  Meknès - Morocco.  For this purpose, 120  poultry meat samples (muscle, liver, gizzard and eggs samples) were taken from various  farms and tested by  conventional microbiological methods (four plates) recommended and approved by French Agency of Food Safety (AFSSA). For muscle samples suspected positive to antibiotic residues at screening, quantitative evaluation for determination of these molecules was performed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-UV-MS) (Delepine and Hurtaud-Pessel, 2002). The results revealed that 36.15% of poultry meat samples from intensive livestock were positive to antibiotic residues. As for samples from traditional livestock, all samples were negative. The concentrations of tetracycline in these samples does not exceed the maximum residue limits of both FAO and WHO, which is 100 µg / Kg. Indeed, the levels obtained vary between 37 and 74 µg / kg.