Chloramphenicol Found in Veterinary Royal Jelly Supplements

Veterinary Residues Annual Report Published
Food Standards Agency (UK), 9/8/2008

The Veterinary Residues Committee (VRC) 2007 Annual Report on the surveillance of veterinary residues in food in the UK is now available online. The report details the checks that have been done for a range of residues of veterinary medicines in food.

The VRC is an independent advisory committee overseeing UK surveillance of residues of veterinary medicines in UK-produced and imported foods. It advises the chief executives of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) and the Food Standards Agency on its work and the importance of its results. The UK programme of residue surveillance is operated by the VMD. More information on the role of the Committee and its residue surveillance work can be found at the VRC website at the link below.

A couple of results were of particular interest to the Agency:

The Agency supported the VRC brand-name survey on chloramphenicol in high concentration royal jelly nutritional supplements. Where positive samples were found during the course of the survey, the Agency was notified and worked with local authorities and the companies involved to ensure that the products were withdrawn from sale. Where the products affected came from outside UK, the Agency notified the European Commission…

See: Survey on Royal Jelly Supplements

In a survey published today on behalf of the Veterinary Residues Committee (VRC), the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) reports that traces of chloramphenicol, a veterinary medicine banned for use in food producing animals, were found in 18 samples of high concentration royal jelly nutritional supplements.

However, the risks from the levels found in the affected samples would have been extremely small…