Evaluation of the illegal use of clenbuterol in feed, drinking water, urine, and hair samples collected in bovine farms in Portugal

Fernando Ramos (1) , Maria Lurdes Baeta (2) , Jorge Reis (3) , Maria Irene Noronha da Silveira (4)

1 Pharmacy Faculty
2 Laboratory of Bromatology, Hydrology and Nutrition
3 Risk assessment
4 Pharmacy Faculty

The recent discovery of clenbuterol contamination in Portuguese food led to a special inspection of 16 cattle farms for β-agonists, which involved the analysis of a total of 486 samples, of which 78 were feeds, 106 drinking waters, 168 urines and 134 hairs. Bromobuterol, cimaterol, clenbuterol, clenpenterol, clenproperol, hydroxymethylclenbuterol, mapenterol, salbutamol and terbutaline were the β-agonists screened for. Only clenbuterol was found in all types of analyzed matrices and the most likely method of clenbuterol illegal administration to animals was through drinking water. A percentage of 14.15 % of analysed samples of drinking waters was found positive in drinking waters in a range of 0.03 to 3.80 mg/l of clenbuterol. Inclusion of hair samples on Portuguese plan for clenbuterol residue control in live animals was also discussed.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Fernando Ramos, Maria Lurdes Baeta, Jorge Reis, Maria Irene Noronha da Silveira. Evaluation of the illegal use of clenbuterol in feed, drinking water, urine, and hair samples collected in bovine farms in Portugal. Food Additives and Contaminants, 2009, 26 (06), pp.814-820. ⟨10.1080/02652030902729908⟩. ⟨hal-00577314⟩