Fda On Alert For 'deadly' Meat

[george]

FDA on alert for 'deadly' meat

BANGKOK: -- Animals bred for human consumption are being given drugs meant for humans and the practice could leave deadly residues in meat, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday.

The FDA has alerted its offices across the country and launched a major crackdown on the practice, FDA secretary-general Phakdi Pothisiri said.

A vast number of human drugs, including antibiotics and steroids, some labelled "prescription drug", have already been confiscated from veterinary drugstores in Suphan Buri and Uttaradit, where random checks were recently conducted, he said. "Penicillin residue, even in small amounts, can kill people allergic to the drug," said Phakdi.

"And it's highly unlikely we'll know if the food we're going to eat contains such residues."

In Nakhon Pathom, some drugs meant for humans, but regarded as being capable of killing viruses in pigs, have been sold from stores stocked with agricultural equipment and chemicals.

Nakhon Pathom has the largest concentration of pig farms in the country.

Initial FDA investigations have traced the alleged distributor to a non-existent company, he said.

"Although they use human drugs on animals, the adverse effects of such misconduct can affect consumers," said Phakdi, adding that the difference between human and veterinary drugs was that human drugs were not tested for drug residues in the event of human consumption.

The penalty for selling unauthorised drugs is a maximum of five years in jail and a Bt20,000 fine, while producers could face 20 years in jail and a Bt20,000 fine.

The FDA is also currently in the process of toughening its stance on skin-whitening products, said Phakdi.

He said the FDA had warned all producers of such products to stop advertising, because the claims they made were often exaggerated.

But many of them still continued to use advertising, particularly on TV, said FDA cosmetics control division Phongpraphan Susanthita-phong. Legal proceedings are to be brought against firms defying the FDA order, said Phongpraphan.

--The Nation 2006-04-28

[RamdomChances]

"Penicillin residue, even in small amounts, can kill people allergic to the drug," said Phakdi.

A lot of animal drugs contain Penicillin.

"Although they use human drugs on animals, the adverse effects of such misconduct can affect consumers," said Phakdi, adding that the difference between human and veterinary drugs was that human drugs were not tested for drug residues in the event of human consumption.

This bit is the key part, human medicens have no "withdrawal period" although the times given for animal medicens are only guidlines anyway, whenever we treat a cow we have to get the milk anylised before we can sell it, regaurdless of the holding time stated on the bottle which can be over a month for some.

I'm not sure what checks are done on meat, but on a local level there does not seem to be any controls. We often sell sickly cows that have failed to respond to treatment usually still dosed up with antibiotics.....they probably end up in the market's in a day or so!!