Estimating the transfer of contaminants in animal feedstuffs to livestock tissues, milk and eggs: a review

Literature studies on the transfer from livestock feed of residues of organic contaminants, metals and mycotoxins to edible livestock commodities have been reviewed. This review focuses on contaminants relevant to risks assessment of livestock feeds, especially those contaminants for which regulatory standards have been established. Those involved in the supply of livestock feed need to be aware of maximum levels for various contaminants in food and develop strategies to ensure food derived from livestock complies. An impediment to profiling feed ingredients has been the lack of accessible information on the transfer of residues from feed to tissues, milk and eggs derived from exposed livestock. Transfer factors are summarised for 72 contaminants for cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry and can be used in the first tiers of risk assessment to identify contaminant and feed ingredient combinations that require management.