Tehran University of Medical Sciences Journal of Food Safety and Hygiene 2476-3241 4 1/2 2019 03 30 1 7 Gholamreza Jahed Khaniki Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Ebrahim Molaee Aghaee Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Parisa Sadighara Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2019 04 09 2019 04 09 Chemical contaminants comprise hazards which can occur in animal production, slaughter, processing or packaging. This paper was aimed to study those contaminants which are of most threat to animal origin food products. Livestock and veterinary services are responsible for contaminants and veterinary drugs residues, heavy metals, mycotoxins and pesticides that may be found during animal breeding. The most important contaminants which may be found in meat products are antimicrobial drugs, hormonal growth promoters, pesticides, heavy metals and added chemicals. When the veterinary drugs are ingested, they maintain sufficient activity after incubation in rumen fluid and can appear as residues in meat products potentially. Nevertheless, chemical contaminants are considered to be very important regarding to the consumer's confidence and human health concern, and reducing the occurrence in foods is demanded. Furthermore, surveillance programs and periodic reassessment of risks resulted from these contaminants is required to detect problems, therefor, proper corrective actions can be conducted for public safety. https://jfsh.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jfsh/article/view/180 https://jfsh.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jfsh/article/download/180/89