Are There Antibiotics In My Milk?

The short answer is no, there are no antibiotics in your milk. Here's some information to explain.

Antibiotic Use on Dairy Farms

Farmers use antibiotics. Like any other species, cows get sick, and it is in their best interests to be treated with antibiotics when necessary. The average dairy herd varies across the UK, but sizes range from 50 to over a thousand cows. If you picture a school or an office with as many people as that, at some point one of them will be ill and need antibiotic treatment. The same applies to cows- even under the best management systems some will become ill.

Antibiotic use in the UK is strictly controlled, and farmers can't buy antibiotics to promote growth. Farmers complete courses on the safe use of medicines to comply with farm assurance standards, and record every time an animal receives an antibiotic treatment. This can be in a form as simple as a notebook, or on apps and software programmes designed for those purposes.

Almost every dairy farm in the UK is Red Tractor assured, and as part of that scheme there is an annual review of antibiotic use on farm, conducted between the farmer and their vet. The review looks at the amount of antibiotic used in a comparable format, the reasons for using antibiotics, and sets actions for reductions in use. Vets and farmers also complete a Herd Health Plan, which covers all aspects of preventative health care.

Highest Priority Critically Important Antibiotics

Certain drugs are kept for human medicine- these are referred to as Highest Priority Critically Important Antibiotics. These drugs will only be prescribed to a farmer as a "last resort", where sensitivity testing shows that they would be effective, and to not use them would be to cause unnecessary suffering.

Antibiotic Use Targets

As part of the antibiotic review described above, vets calculate the antibiotic use on farm. This is measured as mg per Population Corrected Unit (PCU) and allows for comparisons between farms.

A target was initially set that the UK dairy industry would average 21mg/PCU by 2020. By 2018 the UK average was 17mg/PCU, and farmers continue to reduce their usage. The same taskforce that set the targets for dairy also did so for other livestock sectors, and report that antibiotic use on UK farms has halved since 2014.

The NFU report that further reductions will be targeted, and additional tools will be offered to farmers and vets to make this easier.

Comparisons between countries tend not to break cattle down into beef and dairy, but figures I have seen online suggest that antibiotic use in American cattle is 7 times higher than the UK, with some sources putting it even higher. Interestingly, organic farms in America cannot use antibiotics at all.

Identifying Treated Cows and Dumping Milk

Antibiotics (and anthelmintics and painkillers) have a "withdrawal period"- a specific time from treatment during which milk cannot be sold for human consumption. There is also a separate withdrawal for meat. The withdrawal period is marked on the bottle, and is doubled under UK organic certification.

During the withdrawal period cows will still need to be milked (unless they are dry cows and are not producing milk). The milk is then discarded. There are several ways to identify cows under withdrawal.

The easiest way is with red paint (produced for livestock) on the udder and legs, or by attaching red tape to the tail. Some farms will also have parlour technology that sounds an alarm if anyone tries to milk the cow to the main line, and some farms will keep a cow under treatment apart from the main herd. It is also common practice to have a whiteboard in the parlour with information about cows, and to note on there the name or number of a cow under withdrawal, perhaps with the date of her next injection if on a course of antibiotics, and the date when her milk can be sold.

At the end of the withdrawal period the cow's milk can again be sold. It is possible to buy on-farm testing kits to double check that the milk is antibiotic- free.

Organic farms in the UK can use antibiotics to treat sick animals, although they are subject to an extended withdrawal time, and their certifying board may have additional restrictions on use. Some farmers sell their milk on what is known as a Production Without Antibiotics (PWAB) contract, where antibiotics cannot be used.

Testing For Antibiotics

Every time milk is collected from a farm (every day or every other day, depending on the route of the tanker and the capacity of the farm's milk tank) a sample is taken. The sample is also used to check hygiene and milk constituents, and the results communicated to farmers.

Milk collected from farm is tested for antibiotics, and if traces are found the individual farmer responsible will be fined, as the whole tanker will have to be discarded. If you picture a tanker of milk, you can see that this is not a small fine. The milk buyer will often ask the farmer to complete a course with their vet to ensure that they are complying with the rules around antibiotic use on farm, and have a system in place to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

Responsible Use

The rules in the UK are set up to protect consumers from antibiotic residues in milk, and to minimise the risk of antibiotic resistance developing on farm. Responsible use means that vets work with farmers to ensure that the correct antibiotics are used at the correct dosage, and that antibiotics that are important for human use are kept away from animals. The result is that humans are kept safe, bacteria are kept susceptible, and cows are kept healthy with appropriate treatment if they are unwell.