Short Communication: Assessment of tetracycline residue in local milk consumed in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract. Bello MI, Lamiya A, Hayatu IA, Zailani HA, Ja’afar JN, Raji ML, Abdullahi M. 2023. Short Communication: Assessment of tetracycline residue in local milk consumed in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria. Asian J Trop Biotechnol 20: 45-49. Antimicrobial residues in food beyond the tolerance limit for human consumption will harm health, such as toxicity, allergy, teeth discoloration, teratogenicity, and, most importantly, antimicrobial resistance. Knowing the prevailing tetracycline usage pattern in cattle husbandry and the lack of information on tetracycline residue in the locally consumed milk in Yola Adamawa State, Nigeria, therefore, this study was conducted to assess the tetracycline residue in the region. One hundred and twenty-two local milk samples were collected through simple random sampling in the study area from local retailers. First, the samples were screened for general antimicrobial residue using the microbiological method. Antimicrobial-positive samples were then subjected to HPLC analysis to identify and quantify possible tetracycline residue. The results showed that 23% (28/122) were positive for antimicrobial residue, of which 68% (19/28) were identified as tetracycline. The overall tetracycline residue prevalence was 15.6% (19/122) with a mean concentration of 432.64 µg/L with the lowest and highest concentration of 52.91 µg/L and 1,597.29 µg/L, respectively. The proportion of tetracycline positive to negative samples differed significantly (P<0.05), occurring with probabilities of 0.16 and 0.84, respectively. This study revealed tetracycline at a low prevalence, but in most cases, 89.47% (17/19) at dangerous levels. Thus, there is a need to review the present antimicrobial regulatory mechanisms.