Residual materials such as veterinary drugs, environmental contaminants, and pesticides are affecting food safety. High resolution techniques and quality controls are needed to analyze these materials from part per million to part per trillion quantities in food. In order to achieve quality results, standardized methods and techniques are required. Our laboratories were prepared to obtain a certificate of accreditation for ISO/IEC 17025 in the analytical criteria of animal drugs, dioxins, pesticides, and heavy metals. ISO together with IEC has built a strategic partnership with the World Trade Organization with the common goal of promoting a free and fair global trading system.

The increasing prevalence of toxic substance-exposure in pets in South Korea endangers the health and safety of numerous companion animals, and has become a cause for concern. Notably, the annual incidence of forensic analysis in pets has increased by more than 150% in South Korea, mainly in populous regions such as Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi. In response to this growing issue, veterinary forensic examinations were conducted on 549 dogs and cats from 2019 to 2022. This study revealed the presence of various toxic substances, including pesticides, insecticides, and drugs such as analgesics, anesthetics, antidepressants, and muscle relaxants, in pets. Among the 38 different toxins identified in pets, coumatetralyl, methomyl, terbufos, and buprofezin were the most frequently detected. In this study, toxic substances for pets were identified based on the “toxic agent list for humans,” developed by the National Forensic Services, because no list of toxic agents for animals currently exists and data regarding potentially toxic substances for dogs and cats is limited. This is one of the limitations of this study, and necessitates the establishment of a toxic agent list for animals. Continued monitoring and research is also recommended to reveal the incidence, causes, and solutions of toxicity in animals.

Measurement uncertainty could play an important role in the assessment of test results in laboratories and industries. We investigated measurement uncertainties possibly included in determination of flubendazole, a benzimidazole anthelmintic, in pork by HPLC. The concentration of flubendazole was 62.69 ng/g in a sample of pork. Uncertainty was estimated in the analytical procedure of flubendazole. A model equation was made for determination of flubendazole in pork. The four uncertainty components such as weight of sample, volume of sample, calibration curve, and recovery were selected to estimate measurement uncertainties.

The 102 farms received a positive result of the milk drug residue test were selected to investigate the reasons of drug residues in bulk milk. The most frequent causes of drug residues were milker or producer mistakes (28.4%), failure to observe withdrawal time (21.5%), and withholding milk from treated quarters only (19.6%). Milker or producer mistakes occurred high at the farms having a parlor system (4 cases out of 11 farms), and related to the inadequate records and marking of treated cows. The lack of knowledge on the absorption of antibiotic from treated quarters and its excretion from untreated quarters caused mainly withholding milk from treated quarters only. Among the 91 farms identified the cause of drug residues, most of the route of drug administration was intramammary infusion (81.3%), and mostly drug used for the treatment of cows was beta-lactam antibiotics (57.1%).