Sulfamethazine contamination level and exposure assessment in domestic and imported poultry meats in Jordan

Vet World Vol.12 December-2019 Article-16

Research Article

Veterinary World, 12(12): 1992-1997

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2019.1992-1997

Saddam S. Awaisheh¹, Mohammad S. Khalifeh², Razan J. Rahahleh¹, Ja'far M. Al-Khaza'leh¹, and Rania M. Algroom³

1. Department of Nutrition and Food Processing, Al-Balqa Applied University, Salt 19117, Jordan.
2. Department of Veterinary Basic Sciences, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan.
3. Department of Food Science, Al-Balqa Applied University, Zarqa 19237, Jordan.

Background and Aim: Sulfamethazine (SMZ) is an important and widely used antibiotic in poultry industry due to its high efficacy in fighting diseases and promoting growth. In addition, SMZ is a possible human carcinogen and has been found in many food types including poultry meat. Accordingly, this study aimed to survey the contamination level and estimated daily intake (EDI) of SMZ in domestic and imported poultry meat samples in Jordan.

Materials and Methods: A total of 120 samples; 60, 30, and 30 of fresh and frozen domestic and frozen imported poultry samples, respectively, were collected from different cities in Jordan. Poultry samples were analyzed for SMZ incidence rate and contamination level using a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. EDI values were calculated from the SMZ concentration, average poultry daily consumption rate, and adult body weight (b.w.).

Results: Of the 120 surveyed samples, 20 samples (16.7%) were SMZ violative positive and exceeded the European Union maximum limit (100 μg/kg) and accordingly were unfit for human consumption. Whereas, 51 samples (42.5%) were with SMZ concentrations of 10-100 μg/kg. The average SMZ concentration was 235.58 μg/kg, with a range of 11.47-800 μg/kg poultry meat. It is also noteworthy the high EDI of SMZ by Jordanian adults, 0.286 μg SMZ/kg b.w./day. Moreover, results prevailed that the highest SMZ incidence rate and contamination level were for imported poultry samples followed by domestic poultry samples, which may indicate that SMZ contamination in poultry meat is an international issue.

Conclusion: The current study prevailed high SMZ incidence rate, contamination level, and EDI values, which is likely due to indiscriminate use of SMZ in poultry production. Results also prevailed the high risk that consumers in Jordan may expose due to SMZ residues. Therefore, more strict program and good agricultural practices should be applied to monitor antibiotic withdrawal periods in animals used for human consumption to ensure the legal residue requirements of these antibiotics. Keywords: antimicrobial resistance, estimated daily intake, Jordan, poultry meat, sulfamethazine.

Keywords: antimicrobial resistance, estimated daily intake, Jordan, poultry meat, sulfamethazine.

How to cite this article: Awaisheh SS, Khalifeh MS, Rahahleh RJ, Al-Khaza'leh JM, Algroom RM (2019) Sulfamethazine contamination level and exposure assessment in domestic and imported poultry meats in Jordan, Veterinary World, 12(12): 1992-1997.

Received: 28-08-2019 Accepted: 08-11-2019 Published online: 18-12-2019

Corresponding author: Saddam S. Awaisheh E-mail: saddam_awaisheh@yahoo.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2019.1992-1997

Copyright: Awaisheh, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.