On 10 August 2020, the WHO Regional Office for Europe in collaboration with the Eurasian Economic Commission organized a webinar on veterinary drug residues in food of animal origin – a public health issue. Dr Igor Gaevskii, Director of the Department for Sanitary, Phytosanitary and Veterinary Measures, Eurasian Economic Commission opened the webinar. He stressed that veterinary drug residues in food is an issue of concern and that the webinar provided an opportunity to share experiences between countries in East Europe and Central Asia and members of the European Union.

“There are several health risks associated with residues of veterinary drugs in food”, said Peter Sousa Hoejskov, WHO Regional Office for Europe outlining the different policy options countries may want to consider.

“The Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF) recommends maximum residue limits (MRL) of veterinary drugs and risk management options for countries to consider”, said Gracia Brisco, Codex Secretariat, emphasizing that MRLs adopted by Codex fulfil the requirements of the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement).

The implementation of MRLs for veterinary drugs in food requires effective control mechanisms and monitoring. Bjorn Berendsen, Wageningen Food Safety Research highlighted several options for screening and confirmatory analyses for antibiotics in food. “The approach for monitoring needs to be risk-based and tailored to specific country contexts”, he said.

Helene Rugbjerg, Danish Veterinary and Food Administration said that “Denmark follows EU requirements for the control on the use of veterinary drugs”. This includes monitoring of the use of veterinary drugs, farm inspections and monitoring of residues in raw material. “Joint legislation and consistent monitoring across EU member states helps to identify issues and make recommendations for improvements”, she said.

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Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods

WHO Regional Office for Europe