EU Animal burden calculator - animals

The excel tool calculates the maximum and median intake  (dietary burden) (in milligrams per kilogram bodyweight per day and milligrams per kilogram dry matter) for the following production species; beef cattle, dairy cattle, breeding sheep, meat producing sheep, breeding pigs, finishing pigs, broiler chickens, laying chickens and turkeys. Based on this calculation and considering the results of the livestock feeding studies, the calculator also derives the highest residue levels (in milligrams per kilogram) in the relevant tissues and products (muscle, fat, liver, kidney, milk and eggs). These values are estimated using three approaches transfer factors, interpolation and linear regression as described in OECD, 2013 and allow the user to derive the maximum residue level (MRL) for each commodity of animal origin.

Inputs to the tool are the following; monitoring and risk assessment residue definitions, residue levels measured in muscle, fat, liver, kidney and milk or eggs (at different feeding levels obtained from livestock feeding studies ), STMR and HR values for crop groups used as animal feed including; forage, roots and tubers, cereal grains and crop seeds and by-product, for by-products a processing factor (PF) can be entered by user. However, in the absence of this input value, default processing factors are provided for many of the by-product classes. If residue definitions in raw and processed commodities are different, user has to enter the corresponding conversion factor(s).

Outputs: dietary burden for the difference classes of animals, median and highest residue levels as well as maximum residue level (MRL) in (milligrams per kilogram) in the relevant tissues and products for the above mentioned species, conversion factors for each of these product (if needed).