ANTIMICROBIAL DRUG RESIDUES IN FOODS - MI CROBIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE,EVALUATION OF THE NO ADVERSE EFFECT ON HUMAN INTESTINAL MICROFLORA

Antimicrobial drug residues can be found in meat, milk or eggs after a n antibiotic treatment. These residues might produce adverse effects o n the human gut flora. They may decrease the microbiological barriers, and allow the emergence of pathogenic, opportunistic or resistant org anisms. The in vivo impact of antibiotic residues on human microflora can be directly assessed in human volunteers or in human flora associa ted (HFA) gnotobiotic mice. The in vitro susceptibility of selected st rains, isolated from human stools, can also be measured. One must admi t some hypothesis before extrapolating from those minimum inhibitory c oncentrations (MIC) to the acceptable daily intake (ADI) and the maxim um residue limits (MRL). These hypothesis are given in the present pap er, but they are not supported by available scientific data.