Monitoring of domestic and imported eggs for veterinary drug residues by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) routinely monitors the Canadian food supply to ensure that the levels of antibiotic residues are below the stated regulatory guidelines. Over a two-year period, both domestic and imported eggs in Canada were analyzed for a number of veterinary drugs. These included chloramphenicol, beta-lactams, fluoroquinolones, halofuginone, macrolides, sulfonamides, tetracyclines, decoquinate, and coccidiostats. More than 99% of the samples screened were found to be free of any veterinary drug residue. The remainder were found to contain tetracyclines, sulfonamides, ciprofloxacin, macrolides, streptomycin, clopidol, ethopabate, and nitromide. Current methods used for the analysis of these residues are discussed.