Furazolidone in turkey tissues following a 14-day feeding trial

Feed supplemented with furazolidone was fed to turkeys on a research farm near Modesto, CA. The birds fed furazolidone-medicated feed were housed in isolated pens in a manner to prevent any cross contamination from an adjoining treatment. Furazolidone-medicated feed was supplied to the ration for 14 days prior to withdrawal with two exceptions; the controls were not fed medicated feed, and a 400 g/ton treatment was fed for 24 hr prior to processing. Treatments, representing different withdrawal periods, ranged from 0 to 21 days. Two 400 g/ton treatments with 0-day withdrawal periods were included in the study. One of these treatments involved a 14-day medicated feeding period while the other was for 24 hr. All other treatments were fed medicated feed at the rate of 200 g/ton. Tissue samples from the processed birds included skin, fat, liver, kidney, as well as breast and thigh muscle. No detectable residues were found in any of the liver, kidney, fat, or muscle tissues at any of the withdrawal periods including the 0-day withdrawal groups. Skin tissues contained detectable furazolidone residues only in the 0-day withdrawal treatments, and even these levels were below the 2 ppb level.