Report for 2014 on the results from the monitoring of veterinary medicinal product residues and other substances in live animals and animal products

The report summarises the monitoring data collected in 2014 on the presence of residues of veterinary medicinal products and certain substances in live animals and animal products in the European Union. A total of 736,907 samples were reported to the European Commission by the 28 EU Member States. They consisted of 425,232 targeted samples and 14,097 suspect samples reported under Council Directive 96/23/EC, and of 4,136 samples collected at import and 293,442 samples collected in the framework of programmes developed under the national legislation. The majority of Member States fulfilled the minimum requirements for sampling frequency laid down in Council Directive 96/23/EC and in Commission Decision 97/747/EC. The percentage of non-compliant targeted samples (0.37%) was slightly higher compared to the previous 7 years (0.25%–0.34%). For the 2014 results, increases in non-compliant samples were noted for resorcylic acid lactones, chemical elements (mainly metals) and mycotoxins, compared to previous 7 years (2007-2013). The lowest frequency of non-compliant samples for prohibited substances was reported in 2014, compared to the previous 7 years. For the other substance groups, there were no notable variations over the 8 year period. This analysis should be regarded as having a certain degree of uncertainty, as it is based on partially aggregated data and the sampling plans and the spectrum of substances analysed are not necessarily the same every year.