Excellent residue level results

The excellent results of the residue monitoring programme for last year represents the commitment of Irish farmers to use medicines responsibly and to bring excellent produce to the Irish market, the Animal and Plant Health Association declared.

APHA director Declan O'Brien said overall residue levels are at just 0.36%. Given that inspectors actively look for suspect cases, the real level of positive samples is even lower. Just over 65,000 samples were taken from 11 different species.

The results in relation to antibiotics show these products are being used in a manner that avoids residues arising in the food chain.