Of the 3.15 million bulk milk tankers tested last year for antibiotics, only 429 came up with a positive result. That number represents just 0.014 percent of all samples and ties 2013's record low.
Positive test results for antibiotic residues in bulk milk tankers have been dropping steadily since 1996. This is according to data released annually in a report published on behalf of the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS).
Milk samples are taken in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Last year, nine different groups of families or individual drugs were tested for, and 25 testing methods were used to analyze the samples.
Above and beyond this normal routine analysis, the Food and Drug Administration conducted a separate milk residue study to check for 31 drugs not normally tested for under the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) standards for Grade A milk. Those results, released just last week, showed that more than 99 percent of the samples tested free and clear of any antibiotic residues. You can read more about that study in our special report released last Thursday, "FDA study finds minimal residue traces."
(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2015
March 9, 2015
