An Investigation into the Possible Natural Occurrence of CAP

In recent years (as of 2011) the detection of residues of CAP in food such as poultry and honey has had a major impact on international trade. Follow-up investigations in Thailand relating to non-compliant findings in poultry by 

Several hypotheses for the contamination of food products by possible naturally occurring CAP are described by JECFA. The possibility of contamination due to ingestion of natural or externally contaminated soil was evaluated. The final conclusion from the evaluation was that the Committee could not completely rule out the possibility that foods are occasionally contaminated from environmental sources. However, due to lack of analytical methods to detect the relevant concentrations of CAP in soil, there are no analytical data available to support this suggestion. 

Another hypothesis is the possibility that grass and herbs (plant materials) absorb and accumulate CAP from the soil. The CAP-containing grass and herbs are used as pasture or harvested as animal feed or forage, and consequently products of animal origin are contaminated with residues of CAP. It has been shown that plants are able to absorb veterinary drugs such as tetracyclines from soil. To test this hypothesis, samples of grass and herbs were analyzed for CAP content. 

Matrix Extraction and Clean-up Instrumentation Detection ((xg/kg) Reference 

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