Residues of synthetic hormones in pork, Madagascar

In Madagascar, little information about drug residues in animal products is available. Recently, official veterinary services were informed about misuses of human injectable contraceptives in pig farms. Farm-ers and local animal health workers were suspected to treat pigs for growth promotion and to use human progestins, and especially MPA, as a chemical alternative method for castration of sows that are then fattened before culling. Indeed, MPA may arrest the onset of farrowing, and induce post-lactational an-oestrus in sows. Because the use of synthetic hormones in pig husbandry was considered as a fraud by Malagasy regulation, an exploratory study was carried out to confirm these suspicions and investigate the main molecules concerned. We investigated pigs (n=80) slaughtered in 7 Malagasy abattoirs and raised in 8 of the 22 Malagasy regions (i) to confirm the contamination of carcasses by anabolic hormones by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), (ii) to identify the concerned molecules and (iii) to explore the consumers' exposure to hormone residues. Only adult sows were sampled considering that chemical castration with progestagens was the most common hypothesis of misuse of synthetic hormones in the field. The screening of the 80 kidney fat samples did not reveal residues of other proges-tagens than medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA). MPA-positive samples were detected in 10 out of 15 districts (66.7%), and in all 8 surveyed regions except one (87.5%), namely Diana region in Northern Mad-agascar. Our results highlighted a heavy contamination of pork products by synthetic hormones residues, which was highly prevalent considering that such residues are not likely to occur according Malagasy regulation. Investigations by Malagasy veterinary services revealed that farmers and animal health work-ers purchased syringes of progestagens (Confiance, Pfizer). These low-price progestins were made easily available in private local dispensaries and in basic health centers (public sector). Without any control, farmers have then the opportunity to use MPA in pigs easily. Public awareness campaigns and control improvement among the animal production sector and among the Malagasy public health sector is there-fore urgent.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Porphyre, Vincent, Rakotoharinome, Vincent Michel, Randriamparany, Tantely, Pognon, Damien, Prévost, Stéphanie, Le Bizec, Bruno
Format:	conference_item biblioteca
Language:	eng
Published:	s.n.
Subjects:	Q03 - Contamination et toxicologie alimentaires, L52 - Physiologie animale - Croissance et développement, D50 - Législation,
Online Access:	http://agritrop.cirad.fr/572164/ http://agritrop.cirad.fr/572164/1/document_572164.pdf
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