Medicated feed and Medication Residue

July 18, 2018

Medicated feed and Medication Residue

Medicated feed is a mixture of animal feed with medicinal product (can contain one or more active substances). Each medicated feed must be labeled and the drug levels have to permitted as per regulatory requirements. The usage of medication in animal feed requires involvement of a licensed veterinarian. The facility, or the feed mill, should be registered and approved for medicated feed production.

Medication/ drug residue is checked after a cleanout procedure of the equipment is done. Some medications can interfere and lead to a high risk situation.

In order to keep animal feed safe, the following validation steps should be taken:

Supporting documentation on the cleanout procedures and their effectiveness.
Standards of operations to monitor and verify every step in the process.
The final feed product should be sent to a laboratory for analysis, and the laboratory must use an approved method for drug residue testing.

We test animal feed for the most common medications that are used in the animal industry: Chlortetracycline and Sulfamethazine.

Chlortetracycline is used in animal feed to treat minor bacterial skin infections.

Sulfamethazine is an antibacterial drug and it is used for bacterial respiratory infections.

The target in Medication residue is to get no detection residue.

Using medicated feed helps to prevent and treat diseases in your herd. It improves production and animal health.