Survey on royal jelly supplements
Wednesday 27 February 2008
In a survey published today on behalf of the Veterinary Residues Committee (VRC), the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) reports that traces of chloramphenicol, a veterinary medicine banned for use in food producing animals, were found in 18 samples of high concentration royal jelly nutritional supplements.
However, the risks from the levels found in the affected samples would have been extremely small.
The survey, carried out by the VMD between September and November 2007 and focusing on products containing high concentrations of royal jelly, tested 71 samples of royal jelly nutritional supplements sold as capsules, tablets and fresh royal jelly. Residues of chloramphenicol were found in 18 samples in concentrations ranged between 0.33μg/kg and 21μg/kg. Royal jelly is made by bees for the nourishment of the queen bee.
Where positive samples were found during the course of the survey the Agency was notified and worked with local authorities and the companies involved to ensure that the products were withdrawn from sale. These companies have informed customers who bought the implicated products of the reasons for the withdrawal and asked them not to consume the product and return it to the company. Where affected products came from outside UK, the Agency notified the European Commission.
The FSA contributes to the UK programme of surveillance overseen by the VRC. The results of the VMD's surveillance are passed to us, and we assess any risks and liaise with local authorities to ensure that appropriate action is taken.The Agency is also contacting local authorities to raise their awareness to this contamination so they can take any necessary steps to protect the food chain.
The Agency acts as a watchdog to ensure that food safety is given high priority during the authorisation and monitoring processes for veterinary medicines, so that any residues in food are as low as practically possible and within safe limits.
The survey was recommended by the VRC following a series of rapid alert notifications from the European Commission regarding findings of residues of chloramphenicol in royal jelly in other Member States.
The VRC is an independent advisory committee that oversees the UK's surveillance of residues of veterinary medicines. It advises the Chief Executives of the VMD and the Agency on the programmes and the significance of their results.
The science behind the story
Chloramphenicol is not authorised for use as a veterinary medicine in the treatment of animals for food production in the European Union (EU) and may not be used in the production of food of animal origin which is exported to the EU. Chloramphenicol is considered to be a potential genotoxic carcinogen, that is, it has the potential to cause cancer by interacting with the genetic material (DNA) in cells. However, the risks from the levels of intake arising from eating royal jelly would be extremely small, especially if exposure were relatively short term. Medical use of chloramphenicol has also been associated with a rare aplastic anaemia which can be fatal.
However, intakes of chloramphenicol from royal jelly would be seven orders of magnitude lower than medical exposures and any incidence of aplastic anaemia would be expected to be extremely low and unlikely to be distinguishable from a low background incidence in the population.
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