Are antibiotic residues in the Australian food supply?
Antibiotics are used to maintain the health of animals and as a result low residues of antibiotics may be present in some of the food we eat. Standard 1.4.2 in the Food Standards Code list the maximum permissible limits for antibiotic residues in food. Food legislation makes it illegal for food to be sold if it contains residues in excess of these limits. These limits are the maximum residues that could result if an antibiotic is used legally ( they do not represent the residues that are always present in the food we eat and in most cases the residues are very much lower. The 1999/2000 National Residue Survey monitoring program found that in nearly 5000 samples of beef, sheep meat, pork, chicken and game meat tested, less than 3% had residues of antibiotics, with less than 0.3% having residues above the maximum permissible limit.
