The effect of processing on veterinary residues in foods.

Heat stability of antibiotics in foods to cooking has been determined by a variety of methods. These include heating in such liquid media as milk, water, buffers and meat extracts, and in solids such as buffered meat homogenates and various sausages. Inactivation of incurred residues in tissues and eggs was also studied. Time and temperature of heating were more easily controlled in liquid media, but results in actual meat products are more indicative of actual cooking processes. Ordinary cooking procedures for meat, even to "well-done", cannot be relied on to inactivate even the more heat sensitive compounds such as penicillins and tetracyclines. More severe heating as for canning or prolonged cooking with moist heat can inactivate the more heat sensitive compounds. The relevance to food safety is uncertain since the nature of the degradation products is unknown in most cases.