Antibiotic Milk Test — The Milk Supply Chain In August 2015 the Food Standards Agency FSA issued guidance on testing milk for antibiotic residues which provided information for the milk supply chain on best practices for the detection of antibiotics in raw milk.
How Do Antibiotics Enter The Dairy Supply Chain
The primary and main risk point is at the farm, the dairy farmer will need to administer antibiotics for a number of diferent reasons throughout the life of the calf as it grows into a cow and becomes milk-producing. A study in Australia by the government of Western Australia listed these common reasons for farmers to fail an antibiotics milk test.
Fresh calvers — cows treated with dry cow antibiotics calve early and are milked into the vat before the withholding period has ended.
Dried-of cows — a surprising number of recently treated dried-of cows somehow return to the main herd unnoticed by the milkers and are milked into the vat. Other antibiotic treatments — most antibiotics have a withholding period. Many enter the bloodstream so footrot treatments and even small injected doses for pinkeye can lead to antibiotic residues in the milk. Weekend milking — many violations occur on a Monday because the weekend milker is not aware that one of the cows has been treated with antibiotics and her milk should be withheld from the vet. This may occur because the cow was not identifed, the markings were lost, the identifcation system was not explained clearly or the milker was not paying attention. Test bucket overfow — it is not uncommon for the test bucket to overfow during milking. This may occur because the bucket is too small, it is not emptied between cows or it is laid on its side.
Why Should Our Milk Not Contain Antibiotics There are two main reasons why antibiotics should not be present in milk and dairy products
1. Antibiotics in milk can cause sensitivity and allergic reactions for some people
2. Long term increased exposure to antibiotics in milk and the general food chain will make the antibiotic less effective as the bacteria build up resistance which can cause major problems for future generations as we need a defence against harmful bacteria.
Manufacturers of cheese and yoghurts also need to make sure the raw material used milk has no or minimal antibiotics as these products are dependent on bacterial activity and the presence of antibiotics will interfere with this process and cause spoilage and waste.