Veterinary drug residues remain within legal limits in 2024, says EFSA

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has released its 2024 annual report on veterinary drug residues, confirming that the vast majority of foods of animal origin on the European market are free from illegal levels of pharmacologically active substances.

The comprehensive study examined nearly 500,000 samples of live animals and animal-derived products, including meat, dairy, eggs, and honey. The monitoring process looked for a wide range of substances such as hormones, steroids, antibacterials, and antiparasitic drugs.

According to the latest findings, only 0.13% of samples (629 out of 493,664) were found to be non-compliant with EU legal limits. This figure indicates a stable trend in food safety, as it remains largely consistent with the 0.11% non-compliance rate recorded in the previous year.

The report categorized the data into three primary monitoring streams:
• National risk-based plans: Aimed at domestic production, showing a 0.16% non-compliance rate.
• Randomized surveillance: Designed for general oversight, which recorded a 0.22% rate.
• Import controls: Targeted at products entering the EU from third countries, showing 0.2% non-compliance.

While the data shows that residue levels are extremely low, public concern remains significant. The 2025 Eurobarometer on Food Safety reveals that 36% of EU citizens still view antibiotic, steroid, or hormone residues in meat as a primary concern. Interestingly, this represents a 3-percentage-point decrease since 2022, suggesting that public confidence in the safety of the food chain is gradually improving.

To promote transparency, EFSA has made the full dataset available on Knowledge Junction, a public repository for food safety evidence; an interactive dashboard is also available to help users explore results by country or substance type.

Source:
EFSA