Survey of residual tetracyclines in kidneys of diseased animals in Aichi Prefecture, Japan (1985-1997)

A survey was conducted to determine the incidence of tetracycline antibioti c (TCAs) residues in the kidneys of slaughtered animals that did not pass i nspection for human consumption by the Japanese Food Sanitation Law and the Meat Inspection Law at the slaughterhouses in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, fro m April 1985 to March 1998, The kidneys were analyzed by the AOAC Official Method 995.09, Among 424 animals (147 cattle and 277 pigs), 131 (30.9%) wer e contaminated with TCAs, including 69 (16.3%) with chlortetracycline (CTC) , 61 (14.4%) with oxytetracycline (OTC), 3 (0.7%) with tetracycline (TC), a nd 1 (0.2%) with doxycycline (DC), One sample (cattle kidney) was contamina ted with both OTC and DC. The frequencies of OTC and TC residues were signi ficantly higher (p < 0.05) in cattle than in pigs, whereas, the frequency o f CTC was significantly higher (p < 0.01) in pigs. Pig kidney samples colle cted in 1991-1997 had significantly higher incidences of TCAs and CTC (p < 0.01) residues than those in 1985-1986.