Allergy to antimicrobial residues in food: assessment of the risk to man

Abstract

Meat and other dietary products from food animals and farmed fish in the West may contain residues of many antibiotics and antibacterial agents, or haptenised macromolecules, e.g. penicilloylated proteins. General surveys have shown a low incidence of detectable residues in most products (up to 0.5-2%). A notable proportion of the general population has true allergic sensitivity to these substances (up to 7-10% to "penicillin") due to prior medical treatment. However, cases of proven allergy to such substances in food are extremely rare, based on clinical and laboratory proof of an immunological reaction, whereas there are less well substantiated reports blaming antibiotics in up to 50% of cases of chronic urticaria. Consideration of nature of haptenisation by antimicrobial substances, of the inefficiency of the oral route for immunisation, and of the transient and unrepeatable nature of most examples of food-related reactions all suggest that allergy to antimicrobial residues in the diet is exceedingly rare.