Coccidiostats and Poultry: A Comprehensive Review and Current Legislation

Abstract

Coccidiosis remains one of the major problems of the poultry industry. Caused by Eimeria species, Coccidiosis is a contagious parasitic disease affecting poultry with great economic significance. Currently, in order to prevent health problems caused by this disease, broiler farmers make extensive use of coccidiostats in poultry feed, maintaining animal health and, in some cases, enhancing feed conversion. The presence of unauthorized substances, residues of veterinary products and chemical contaminants in the food industry is of concern, since they may pose a risk to public health. As the use of coccidiostats has been increasing without any requirements for veterinary prescription, research and surveillance of coccidiostat residues in poultry meat is becoming imperative. This review presents an up-to-date comprehensive discussion of the state of the art regarding coccidiosis, the most used anticoccidials in poultry production, their mode of action, their prophylactic use, occurrence and the European Union (EU) applicable legislation.

Risk Assessment of Nine Coccidiostats in Commercial and Home-Raised Eggs

“…Specifically, management and biosecurity to prevent the introduction of Eimeria on the flock; the use of live attenuated and non-attenuated anticoccidial vaccines as an active or passive immunity response to Eimeria ; or using single drug programs, “shuttle” drug programs, and rotation programs. Even though the use of this specific vaccine is still not widespread, the poultry industry keeps on using concurrent vaccines together with coccidiostat administration [ 10 ].…”

“…The pattern of results observed in the present study can be explained by the rotational use of coccidiostats. This can also explain the different patterns found between the above-mentioned scientific studies, indicating that coccidiostat occurrence in eggs may fluctuate when different locations and periods are considered [ 10 ].…”

“…Consequently, in order to prevent costly outbreaks of coccidiosis, today’s poultry farmers prophylactically administer coccidiostats in their feed [ 9 ]. Thus, coccidiostat residues may be retained in muscle [ 10 ] and, eventually, in eggs due to carryover [ 11 ], since their use is not permitted in laying hen feed due to the risks of consumer exposure to adverse residue levels [ 12 ]. Currently, there are eleven coccidiostats approved for use as poultry feed additives in the European Union (EU), six of which are ionophores and five are synthetic [ 13 ].…”

Nicarbazin Residue in Tissues from Broilers Reared on Reused Litter Conditions

“…Regarding DNC residue in chicken tissues, this study considered Codex Alimentarius MRL (200 µg/kg) for both breast fillet and liver samples in order to verify the compliance. It is worth mentioning that EU [ 9 , 28 , 29 ] legislation is more permissive (liver = 15,000 µg/kg and chicken breast = 4000 µg/kg), whose values were recently adopted by Brazilian legislation [ 30 ] for all chicken tissues. It is interesting to notice that our non-compliant liver samples (3.7% out of 192), at 42 days, which considered the former Brazilian legislation, would now be compliant with the current legislation.…”

Botanicals: A promising approach for controlling cecal coccidiosis in poultry

“…Due to the acute nature of cecal coccidiosis, preventive measures for controlling this disease are the focus of attention ( 28 – 30 ). Multiple coccidiocidal and coccidiostat drugs are being given in the feed to prevent coccidiosis ( 31 , 32 ). Anticoccidial drugs target different stages of the Eimeria life cycle, aiming to arrest the parasite at that stage and ultimately control coccidiosis ( 33 ).…”