[Minor antibiotics residues in food: what are the risks for consumers].

ABSTRACT

The problem of contamination of foodstuffs with antibiotic residues does not lose its relevance everywhere, and the most widespread are the quantities of contaminants at the level of regulated values. This raises the concern of specialists in the field of production and processing of livestock products and initiates their appeal to scientific organizations of the hygienic profile for an explanation of the potential health risks associated with the consumption of low doses of antibiotics with food. Material and methods. Analysis and synthesis of data from scientific sources and official documents in the field of assessing health risks when consuming antibiotics with food, with an emphasis on the effects of minor amounts [at the level of sub-inhibitory values below minimum inhibitory concentrations has been carried out. Results and discussion. The issues of direct and indirect human exposure to antibiotics in low doses, including the formation of resistance of intestinal bacteria and the acceleration of the evolution of microbes, accumulation in the organism, the likelihood of allergic reactions, as well as preservation in foodstuffs during heat treatment, have been highlighted. The role of low doses of antibiotics as analogues of biologically active metabolites of bacteria is demonstrated, which, without exerting a toxic effect on the macroorganism, serve as triggers of changes in the microbial ecosystems of humans, animals and habitats through the mechanism of switching on regulation transcription in microbes and activation of horizontal transfer of genes encoding resistance and associated traits. The negativity of the disproportionately wide use of tetracyclines in agriculture, as the cause of the globalization of transferable resistance, has been emphasized, which was justified by the data on the ability of their sub-inhibitory doses to induce the expression of the largest number of mechanisms of its formation and most strongly provoke the horizontal transfer of linked genes between microbes. The need to preserve the current in the EAEU MRL for tetracyclines (0.01 mg/kg product), located in the concentration zone 0.05-0.1 minimum inhibitory concentrations for most sensitive bacteria, safe in terms of resistance induction, has been confirmed. Conclusion. Adequate rationing of antibiotics in food is recognized as a risk management measure for both direct and indirect negative consequences for human health, since the need to ensure MRLs requires manufacturers to strictly adhere to doses, duration of use and withdrawal periods of drugs. This reduce the likelihood of developing resistance in the gastrointestinal tract of animals, the load of the environment by resistant microbes and their transmission along the food chain. The underlying establishment of microbiological acceptable daily intake should be improved by including the selection of intestinal bacteria co-resistance under the influence of a regulated drug, as a marker of the induction of horizontal transfer of resistance genes, in the biological endpoints of determining.