EU report on veterinary drug residues in food

EFSA’s yearly report on residues of veterinary medicinal products in live animals and animal products shows continued high compliance with official limits in 2024.

The review looks at the presence of authorised and banned pharmacologically active substances and their residues in food derived from animals, including meat (farmed and game), dairy products, eggs, or honey. The types of substances covered are hormones (including steroids), beta-agonists (muscle-soothers), antibacterials, anti-parasitic drugs, and insect repellents, among others.

The data in this year’s report covering 2024 came from the EU Member States, plus Iceland and Norway. Overall, the percentage of non-compliant samples was 0.13% (629 of 493,664 samples) which is comparable to the previous year when non-compliance was 0.11%

According to the 2025 Eurobarometer on food safety, ‘antibiotic, steroid or hormone residues in meat’ is one of the top food safety concerns for over one-third (36%) of EU citizens, albeit 3 percent points less than in the previous survey in 2022.