The effect of cooking on veterinary drug residues in food: 1. Clenbuterol.

The heat stability of clenbuterol was investigated. The drug was shown to be stable in boiling water at 100 degrees C. In cooking oil at 260 degrees C, losses were observed, indicating a half-life of about 5 min. The effect of a range of cooking processes (boiling, roasting, frying, microwaving) on clenbuterol residues in fortified and incurred tissue was studied. No net change in the amount of clenbuterol was observed in any of the cooking processes investigated except for deep frying using extreme conditions. There was little observed migration from the tissue into the surrounding liquid or meat juices. Clenbuterol residues were found not to be evenly distributed in the incurred raw tissue used for the investigation. The findings of this investigation show that data obtained from measurements on raw tissue are applicable for use in consumer exposure estimates and dietary intake calculations.