FOOD SAFETY REGULATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION ON FOOD CONTAMINANTS DERIVED FROM VETERINARY MEDICAL PRODUCTS

National interest of Hungary is to reach the full-membership of the European Union (EU). As a basic condition of this progress on the field of food safety, it has been considered both the subject- and structure-related harmonization of food hygienic regulations with the EU Directives. In the field of chemical contaminants (residues, xenobiotics), it has been also reached a basic progress. The related regulations have equally indicated a good accordance with terms and limits of EU Directives and the recommendations of Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC): Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI), Maximal Residue Limit MRL), Withdrawal Time (WT) in conjunction with the pharmacologically active substance(s), food producing animal species, target tissues and regulatory provisions. The EU General's Office of Veterinary and Phytosanitary Inspectorate has officially reported every year about both the plan of the examination for residues in live animals and fresh meat and the results of nation-wide monitoring for chemical contaminants. Besides environmental pollutants [chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHC), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), organophosphates (OP) and other agrochemicals, toxic and micro elements], this control program covers a wide spectrum of veterinary medical products (antibiotics, sulfonamides, nitrofuranes, ecto- and endoparasiticids, carbadox), prohibited growth promotants (hormones, hormonally active substances, tranquilizers, beta-receptor blockers, thyrostatics), N-nitrosamines, as well as other scanty and radioactive contaminants. The new EU Food Safety Directives have also been cited which regulate the final and provisional MRL-values of a wide variety of veterinary medical products.