US: Animal drug residue in milk declines
17 January 2022
1 minute read
Animal drug residues in milk hit a record low between 1 October and September 30, 2021, according to a report from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Of the approximately 3.9 million milk samples analysed for animal drug residue in that period only 451 tested positive, according to the FDA's National Milk Drug Residue Database Fiscal Year 2021 report.
Regulatory authorities require all bulk milk tankers and raw milk supplies that have not been transported in bulk milk tankers be sampled and analysed for animal drug residues before the milk is processed.
Any bulk milk tanker or raw milk supply that has not been transported in a bulk milk pickup tanker that is found positive is rejected as unfit for human consumption.
According to the report, nearly 13.24 million pounds of milk tested positive for drug residue in the fiscal year. All milk was disposed. This is an improvement over the previous fiscal year, which reported 15.87 million pounds of milk disposed due to animal drug residue.
