FDA Reports Continued Decline in Drug Residues in U.S. Milk
March 7, 2014
Only one out of 7,200 milk tankers tested positive for antibiotic residues last year, according to the National Milk Drug Residue Database 2013 report, released last month by the Food and Drug Administration. The new report showed that the decade-long decline in bulk milk samples testing positive for residues is continuing. Of the approximately 3.2 million milk pickup tankers tested, only 445 (or 0.014%) yielded a positive – down from 0.017% in 2012. This is the seventh year in a row that the percentage of positive tankers has declined.
Additionally, not a single sample of the 40,435 consumer-packaged pasteurized milk products tested positive for animal drug residues. Data from four of the last five years have not yielded a single positive result for pasteurized products.
Meanwhile, NMPF continues to monitor the progress of the FDA-CVM raw milk sampling assignment. A final report is expected soon.
