Current research, regulation, risk, analytical methods and monitoring results for nicarbazin in chicken meat: A perspective review

Abstract

This review presents up-to-date information about current research on nicarbazin, one of the most used anticoccidials in poultry production. The focus is to elucidate regulation concerning nicarbazin, limits for its residues in food, how maximum residue limits in different countries are calculated regarding edible chicken tissues and the possible implications in human health. Analytical methods to extract and quantify this residue, expressed as dinitrocarbanilide (DNC) are presented and discussed, including qualitative screening and quantitative/confirmatory analytical methods. Monitoring results and occurrence of DNC residues in chicken meat are discussed. Additionally, the causes of eventual chicken meat contamination and possible solutions to reduce or eliminate DNC residue in tissues are also presented. The paper concludes with perspectives, the current state of DNC residue analysis and suggestions for future research, especially considering the gap in the study of residue recycling effect due to continuous chicken litter use.

Occurrence and Residue Concentration of Coccidiostats in Feed and Food of Animal Origin; Human Exposure Assessment

“…Similar conclusions have been reported by Dorne et al [25] who reported that no appreciable risk for consumers could be identified for LAS, MAD, MON, NAR, NIC, SAL, DEC, DIC and ROB following the consumption of meat, offal or eggs derived from non-target animals. Another study developed by Bacila et al [7] reports that the consumption of usual daily quantities of poultry products, considering the ADIs, is unlikely to pose any risk to human health related to NIC, one of the most used anticoccidials in poultry production. These considerations on health risk posed by coccidiostatic residues also were corroborated by Kadykalo et al [5] who analyzed several aspects of the problem.…”

“…Coccidiostats are pharmacologically active molecules employed, since 1940, to prevent and inhibit parasitic protozoa of the genus Eimeria , referred to as coccidia, causing a very contagious disease of the gastrointestinal tract in many farmed animals [1,2]. Coccidiosis represents a major disease in poultry, causing intestinal lesions, scarce weight gain, poor feed conversion and poor egg production; in its acute form, coccidiosis causes high mortality rates [3,4,5,6,7]. Aside from intensively farmed animals, such as poultry, coccidiosis also affects extensively reared species including sheep, cattle, pigs and rabbits [2].…”

“…Although some acute toxicity cases in humans, due to the ingestion of pure molecules, have been registered [9,10,11,12], major concerns are addressed toward chronic toxicity due to long-term exposure to low coccidiostat levels [7]. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) established, on the basis of toxicological data, acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) for all regulatory anticoccidials, ranging from the lowest values for HFG (0.00003 mg/kg body weight/day) to the highest values for NIC (0.2 mg/kg body weight/day) [25].…”

Voltammetric Behavior and Reliable Method for the Determination of Coccidiostat Robenidine in Animal Feed and Poultry Meat

“…Additionally, paper [14] reported exacerbation of certain conditions of ischemic disease by residues of coccidiostats in food. Although there are cases of acute toxicity, special attention should be paid to the chronic toxicity resulting from the prolonged exposure to low levels of coccidiostats [24].…”

A Green Approach to the Synthesis of Well‐structured Prussian Blue Cubes for the Effective Electrocatalytic Reduction of Antiprotozoal Agent Coccidiostat Nicarbazin

“…The apparent reason for this massive issue is the excessive addition of prophylactic drugs as a feed additive for fattening the chickens in a shorter period. In recent times, few articles reported about the effects of nicarbazin ; among the reports, few states that nicarbazin can act as a reproduction inhibitor and it also decreases the hatchability of eggs . Therefore, constructing a cheap , effective and sensitive device for the real‐time detection and quantification of NCZ creates great interest among the researchers.…”