Antibiotic residues in dairy products in Africa: A systematic review

The improper use of antibiotics in animal production in Africa may result in antibiotic residues (AR's) in food, and it represents a risk to public health. However, there is scarce information on the rate of AR's in dairy products. This systematic review was performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. The information was collected from databases Web of Science, Science Direct, PubMed, Google Scholar, PAMJ One Health, ResearchGate, and selected African journals. A total of 359 articles were identified and only 22 studies were included. In total, 6246 dairy samples were analyzed, with raw milk as the main sample (90.7 %). Among the 39 antibiotics recorded, the most detected were penicillin, ampicillin, amoxicillin, oxytetracycline, tetracycline, and chlortetracycline. The highest residue rates (90.38 %) were found for dicloxacillin, cefazolin, cefoperazone, cefaclor, and spiramycin. The most used techniques for antibiotic detection were Delvotest, high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to ultra-violet, and liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry in tandem. AR's are high in raw milk and above the Maximum Residues Level representing a big challenge for Africa. Establishing AR's control plans in Africa could be a good strategy to improve the monitoring of their occurrence in food.