Occurrence and residue concentration of coccidiostats in feed and food of animal origin; human exposure assessment

Occurring central Italy, 262 unmedicated feed samples and 353 samples of animal tissues and eggs are tested for coccidiostats between 2012 and 2017. A validated multi-residue HPLC-MS/MS method is applied for the simultaneous determination of the 11 coccidiostats licensed in the EU. The dietary exposure to coccidiostats through poultry meat and eggs is calculated for high consumers, and the contribution to acceptable daily intake of coccidiostats is evaluated. The occurrence of positive feed samples ranges from 17.2% in 2012 to 28.3% in 2017, with an average percentage of positive samples of 25%, while 3.8% of feed samples are non-compliant with a concentration ranging from 0.015 mg/kg for diclazuril to 56 mg/kg for narasin. Positive samples of animal tissues, on average, are 34.7%, fully compliant, while 16% of eggs are positive and violative residues are found in 2%. These noncompliant samples show a concentration varying from 2.4 µg/kg to 1002 µg/kg. The contribution of poultry meat and egg consumption to the acceptable daily intake of each coccidiostat is below 1%, highlighting a low direct risk to public health.