In recent years, the issue of veterinary drug residues in animal-derived foods has become increasingly important in many developing countries. Concerns over veterinary drug usage and residues are primarily related to food safety and the possibility ofthe development of antibiotic resistant pathogens, but the main impetus behind the increased interest of developing country governments is the need to meet requirements for international trade. Failure to do so can have devastating economic consequences. A recent example is the EU suspension of imports of products of animal origin from China in March 2002, a market worth 327.7 million EUR in the year 2000. There is also growing public concern regarding drug residues in many developing countries, In a survey in Nigeria, for example, more than half of the respondents were concerned about residues in meat and favoured the introduction of legislation for residue prevention, including condemnation of contaminated meat. Since the late 1990s, the Joint Foodand Agriculture Organisation/International Atomic Energy Agency (FAO/IAEA) Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture has been active in assisting capacity-building for drug residue monitoring in various developing countries, through technical co-operation, technology transfer, co-ordinated research and other awareness-building and training activities.
展开▼
