Residues of medroxyprogesterone acetate detected in sows at a slaughterhouse, Madagascar

Food Addit Contam Part A Chem Anal Control Expo Risk Assess. 2013;30(12):2108-13. doi: 10.1080/19440049.2013.848293. Epub 2013 Nov 20.

Abstract

In Madagascar, little information about drug residues in animal products is available. However, recently, official veterinary services were informed about the misuse of human injectable contraceptives in pig farms as an alternative for chirurgical castration of adult sows before culling. We investigated pigs (n = 80) slaughtered in 7 Malagasy abattoirs and raised in 8 of the 22 Malagasy regions (1) to confirm the contamination of carcasses by anabolic hormones by using LC-MS/MS, (2) to identify the substances of concern and (3) to explore the consumers' exposure to hormone residues. Medroxyprogesterone acetate was the only synthetic hormone detected in kidney fat. Samples positive with medroxyprogesterone acetate were observed in 66.7% of the districts investigated and in 87.5% of the surveyed regions, confirming its large misuse in livestock. Public awareness campaigns and control improvement among the animal production sector and among the Malagasy public health sector are therefore urgent.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Abattoirs
  • Anabolic Agents / analysis*
  • Animals
  • Contraceptive Agents, Female / analysis
  • Developing Countries
  • Drug Residues / analysis*
  • Female
  • Food Contamination
  • Intra-Abdominal Fat / growth & development
  • Intra-Abdominal Fat / metabolism*
  • Kidney
  • Limit of Detection
  • Madagascar
  • Medroxyprogesterone Acetate / analysis*
  • Progestins / analysis*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Reproductive Control Agents / analysis
  • Substance Abuse Detection / methods
  • Substance Abuse Detection / veterinary*
  • Sus scrofa / growth & development
  • Sus scrofa / metabolism*

Substances

  • Anabolic Agents
  • Contraceptive Agents, Female
  • Progestins
  • Reproductive Control Agents
  • Medroxyprogesterone Acetate