Antibiotic Residues in Animal-Food Matrices in the Southern Africa Development Community: A Systematic Review

• Antibiotic residues in animal-food matrices exceed EU, FAO/WHO, and Codex limits. • Animal producers within SADC misuse mainly tetracyclines and sulphonamides. • Inadequate regulations lead to non-adherence with antibiotic withdrawal period. • Microbial inhibition tests are primary method for surveillance due to affordability. • Residues in animal-food matrices pose risk to food safety and public health. Antibiotic residues in animal-food matrices (AFM) pose a serious global health threat. This study aimed to ascertain whether antibiotic residues were present in AFM and the detection methods employed. Literature from 1976 to 2025 was searched from Science Direct, ScienceGate, PubMed, and Google Scholar, and synthesized. Out of 3,742 papers screened, 31 that met the eligibility criteria and quality assessment were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis. A random effects meta-analysis of antibiotic residues prevalence was performed using Estimation Statistics Confidence Interval module implemented in R language. Out of 10, 258 AFM sampled, 28.1% (2887) tested positive for antibiotic residues. Goat milk had (99.6%) of antibiotic residues, fish (98.5%), chicken eggs (92.5%), chicken meat (53.3%), cattle meat (42.6%), pig meat (37.7%), and cattle milk (15.6%). 37.9% of tetracycline residues were above Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs), followed by sulphonamides (25.0%), aminoglycosides (17.9%), beta-lactams (8.9%), fluoroquinolones (7.4%), amphenicols (2.3%) and nitrofurans (0.6%). Random effects meta-analysis reported an overall mean prevalence of 52.1% (95% CI: 36.4 – 67.7%) of antibiotic residues in meat and 26.0% (08 – 51.2%) in milk. 16 studies (53.3%) out of 31 utilized commercial microbial inhibitor tests, 23.3% used chromatography tests, 10% used both chromatography and immunology tests, 6.7% used immunology tests, 3.3% used both microbial and immunology tests, and 3.3% used both chromatography and microbial inhibition tests. Antibiotic residues are more prevalent in AFM within SADC even above MRLs. This poses significant public health concerns and requires policy formulation that promote prudent antibiotic usage and one health.