Chemical Residues in Intensified Livestock Production: A Review of Emerging Public Health Concerns and Mitigation Pathways

Abstract

The escalating global demand for animal protein has driven the rapid intensification of livestock production, resulting in a heavy reliance on veterinary pharmaceuticals, agricultural pesticides, and intensive husbandry practices. While these interventions optimize growth and control disease, they introduce a critical food safety challenge: the persistence of chemical residues in edible animal tissues. This review synthesizes the primary classes of chemical contaminants including veterinary drugs, agrochemicals, heavy metals, and mycotoxins and traces their pathways into the human food chain. Chronic exposure to sub-lethal concentrations of these compounds poses significant consumer health risks, including the acceleration of global antimicrobial resistance (AMR), gut dysbiosis, carcinogenicity, and tissue-specific toxicity. Operational failures, such as non-adherence to mandatory drug withdrawal periods and weak regulatory oversight, remain the primary drivers of residue non-compliance. Ultimately, while post-harvest processing offers limited reduction of heat-labile compounds, securing food safety requires a fundamental shift toward farm-level mitigation, including strict analytical surveillance and the adoption of natural phytogenic and probiotic feed alternatives.