Closure of Veterinary Residues Committee business

The Committee’s business has now been concluded and the following documents are available:

• the VRC’s Annual Report for 2014 (PDF, 1.7 MB, 5 pages)
• the table setting out the criteria used for their Matrix Ranking (PDF, 338 KB, 1 page) system and their Compendium of ranked substances (PDF, 461 KB, 63 pages), including at the end, the ‘league table’ rankings
• the VRC position paper on the use of flukicides (PDF, 177 KB, 6 pages)

You can also access the VRC’s earlier papers, including all of their previous Annual Reports and position papers on residues in honey, antimicrobial residues in calves, and Antimicrobial Resistance.

As a postscript to their position paper on phenylbutazone in horses the Committee reviewed and supported the conclusions of the joint review by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA); that the low likelihood of exposure and overall low likelihood of adverse effects means the reported presence of phenylbutazone in horses is of low concern to consumers.

Any enquiries should be directed to residues@vmd.defra.gsi.gov.uk