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Agvetlink Special Issue for Veterinarians March 2005

Restricted Substances

Substances that have been banned for use in food-producing species may not be used at any time during the life of an animal from which any product may be taken and exported from New Zealand for human consumption (currently all food-producing animals except chickens and pigs, which are not exported).

The ACVM Group’s Vet Quick Search site contains a link to the register of restricted substances, which is located at www.nzfsa.govt.nz/acvm/subject/vet/prohibited.htm.

The product Imflamol Gel A4600 was originally licensed in New Zealand with nitrofurazone included at 2 g/L.  This product was reformulated with the nitrofurazone omitted in late 2002 to comply with the prohibited substances restrictions. It has been brought to our attention that old stocks of this product may still be in use.  Please ensure that all tubes of Imflamol Gel within veterinary clinics and in use by food- producing animal clients do not contain nitrofurazone.

Prohibition statement

You are also advised to ensure that products containing restricted substances are not prescribed off-label for use in food-producing animals.  All products that contain restricted substances that may be practically used in food-producing animals are now required to include a statement prohibiting their use in any food-producing animal. 

However, it is likely that old labels lacking the statement will still be in the marketplace during the phase-in period of ACVM Act labelling. During this period, the absence of this prohibition statement on the label should not be relied upon as the sole indicator of the product’s restricted status.