Effect of a prebiotic on gut development and ascites incidence

ABSTRACT
In the Dominican Republic, poultry consumption per capita is greater than 34 kg of poultry meat per year. However, the use of antibiotics, specifically thequinolone group, may be over used and can result in residues in the poultry meat. These residues are of concern because consumers may have allergies to antibiotics andantibiotic resistant bacteria can develop from over use of antibiotics in production. However, little is known concerning this issue specifically for the Santiago Province in theDominican Republic. Thus the main purpose of this research was to evaluate the incidence of residual quinolones in poultry meat and determine if any residues detected werehigher than the Residues Maximum Limits (RML’s) (100 μg/kg) established by food industry authorities including the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and European Authorityof Food Safety (EFSA). A total of 135 samples of chicken breast were taken from the different retail meat centers along the 9 districts of Santiago’s Province (Santiago,Tamboril, Sabana Iglesia, Villa Bisonó, Puñal, Villa González, Licey, Jánico, San José De Las Matas) and were analyzed using the Equinox® Test (Zeu Inmunotec Co.) was usedfor analysis. Of the 135 samples analyzed, 50 % from Sabana Iglesia, 20% from Licey, 20% from San Jose De Las Matas and 6.25% from Santiago contained residues of quinoloneshigher than the RML. Samples from Jánico, Puñal, Tamboril, Villa Bisonó, Villa González contained no quinolone residues. The results of this investigation suggest that somepoultry meats sold for human consumption in the Santiago Province of The Dominican Republic contain quinolone residues and may represent a health risk to some consumers.