Antimicrobial Residues in Food: What is too Much?
infectious disease update
Synopsis: Given the public health effect of increasing bacterial resistance, the FDA is re-examining this policy as it reviews newer data on the effect of antimicrobial residues in food on intestinal flora.
Source: Auit A. Lancet 1999;354:1190.
The increasing presence of vre and other multi-drug-resistant organisms in human intestinal flora is an increasing public health hazard. Evidence suggests that these organisms are being introduced into the human population from a number of different sources, including animal feed and possibly in the food we eat, and also as the result of frequent exposure to antimicrobials. Following prompting by a Joint Committee of the WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which recommend acceptable daily intake and maximum residue limits of antimicrobials from meat and other dietary products, the FDA in 1996 established a policy limiting the daily exposure of Americans to no more than 1.5 mg of antimicrobial residues in food. This policy was more liberal than that of our European and Japanese counterparts.
Comment by Carol A. Kemper, MD
Given the public health effect of increasing bacterial resistance, the FDA is re-examining this policy as it reviews newer data on the effect of antimicrobial residues in food on intestinal flora. (Dr. Kemper is Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Stanford University, Division of Infectious Diseases, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.)
VRE and other multi-drug-resistant organisms are being introduced into the human population by:
a. animal feed.
b. the food we eat.
c. frequent exposure to antimicrobials.
d. All of the above
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