Ra 4 Food - Health and Nutritional Tips

A report was published recently by the Food Standards Agency into the possible causes of Nicarbazin residues in chicken.

 Nicarbazin is a coccidiostat used to treat a protozoan disease, coccidiosis that can be debilitating or even fatal to poultry. It is used as a feed additive to control the disease at a critical period of the birds’ lives but should not be used within five days of the birds’ slaughter. This ensures no appreciable residues of it remain in chicken for human consumption. It is combined in equal amounts with another coccidiostat, narasin, in the only UK-licensed product that contains nicarbazin, Maxiban.

The report follows a joint initiative the Government and the Food Standards Agency. The initiative was launched in response to people wanting veterinary medicine residues in food to be kept to a minimum. These residues are not particularly harmful to consumers and are avoidable with good farm practice.

From February 2007 to January 2008, farms sampled under the National Surveillance Scheme (NSS) were sent a questionnaire, by an independent project co-ordinator, seeking information regarding their feeding practices. The NSS check’s for residues of Nicarbazin in UK poultry, as required by EU law. These checks are undertaken by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, and agency of DEFRA.

The study identified several possible factors as likely causes of detectable Nicarbazin residues in chicken. They all relate to the management of feed storage and distribution systems on farm.

Among the key recommendations are: maintaining current best practice advice, maintaining and updating training on the use of Nicarbazin on farms, ensuring farmers are aware of the precise amounts of Nicarbazin feed required and ensuring that both single and double bins are emptied of any remaining Nicarbazin containing feed before the five days withdrawal period before processing.

Residues can be found in poultry meat but are more common in poultry liver. Neither is a significant food safety risk at the levels found, but can be avoided with good farm practice.

A UK action level for residues has been set at 200 ?g/kg based on international Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) considerations. Residues over 1000 ?g/kg are investigated on-farm by Animal Health, as this amount suggests a possible failing in feed management.

This recent investigation considered all detectable residues, including those below 200 ?g/kg, which greatly increased the amount of data available to assess risk factors.