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The presence of prednisolone in complementary feedstuffs for bovine husbandry
Author(s) -
Chiesa Luca,
Pavlovic Radmila,
Fidani Marco,
Panseri Sara,
Pasquale Elisa,
Casati Alessio,
Arioli Francesco
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.6568
Subject(s) - prednisolone , animal husbandry , zoology , european union , biology , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , business , agriculture , medicine , ecology , economic policy
BACKGROUND According to European Union legislation, prednisolone, a steroid that belongs to the glucocorticosteroid group, is banned as a growth promoter in cattle husbandry and therefore should not be present in bovine feedstuffs. As our preliminary investigations detected prednisolone in this matrix, we performed a study on different commercially available complementary feedstuffs, stored at the farm and/or in the laboratory, in order to verify whether its presence was due to neo‐formation during storage.RESULTS Prednisolone was detected in almost all (95%) feedstuffs collected at the farm. When the feedstuffs were stored at the laboratory, the frequency (31%) and the concentration of prednisolone‐positives were lower. This difference, which is likely due to different environmental conditions, implies the possibility of its neo‐formation.CONCLUSION Our data indicate that the neo‐formation of prednisolone can occur in feedstuff, and that the frequency and concentration could be related to the storage conditions. The individuation of an objective parameter that is useful for the identification of the compliance of feed is therefore essential. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry