HUMAN HEALTH AND TRENBOLONE RESIDUE IN BOVINE MEAT

In recent years, hormones and hormone–like compounds have been frequently used in vegetable and livestock production to obtain a high yield performance in a shorter period of time, but depending on the use of anabolics in animal feed, anabolic residues that may occur in meat and meat products would present the risks to the human health. The present study was undertaken to detect and quantify the levels of trenbolone residues (a potent synthetic analog of testosterone) in the market meat in Iran. Cattle meat samples were collected from the markets in Tehran. A total of 120 samples of cattle meat were analyzed for level of trenbolone by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbant Assay method. The average experimental values of trenbolone in cattle meat were 3.76±5.26ng/kg. This value gave no evidence for the illegal use of hormones in Tehran, but these results do not exclude the possibility of misuse of these potentially harmful chemicals in future. There is, therefore, need to routinely monitor these chemicals as a food quality and health control measure.