Occurrence of ivermectin residues in Egyptian retail market milk and the effect of some processing treatments on reduction of its concentration

Abstract EN

Ivermectin (IVM) is a broad-spectrum antiparasitic drug widely used in the veterinary field.

Its use in food-producing animals may cause accumulation of its residues into the animal tissues that find their way into the food products, such as milk, and poses a health hazard to the consumer.

In this study, a total of 60 samples of raw milk intended for human consumption, collected from retail markets in Menoufia Governorate Egypt, were screened for the presence of IVM residues by high-performance liquid chromatography.

The results showed that 18.3% (11/60) of the examined Raw milk samples were contaminated with IVM residues with variable concentrations.

Contaminated samples were exposed to some technological processes as boiling, fermentation, and skimming in a trial to reduce IVM residues concentration.

Among these technological processes, skimming was found to have a significant effect on the reduction of IVM residues concentration.

Monitoring of IVM residues in milk by accurate methods such as HPLC is required to safeguard milk consumers.