Background: The Mekong Delta of Vietnam is a hotspot of antimicrobial use (AMU), but there is no information on the quality of the labelling and strength of antimicrobial products used in poultry production.
Methods: Based on a large random sample of farms, we identified the 20 most used antimicrobial products in the area, and investigated their antimicrobial active ingredient (AAI) content by UPLC-MS/MS (91 analytical tests).
Results: Only 17/59 (28.8%) batches contained all AAIs within 10% of the declared strength. Worryingly, 65.0% products provided in their label preparation guidelines for both therapeutic and prophylactic use. Withdrawal times for both meat and eggs were stated in 8/20 (40%) products.
Conclusion: Results highlight deficiencies in quality and labelling contents that undermine authorities' efforts to discourage inappropriate use of antimicrobials.
Keywords: Vietnam; animal production; antimicrobials; poultry; veterinary.
© 2019 The Authors. Veterinary Medicine and Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.