Antibiotics and Milk

Antibiotics and Milk
ambience: cows
When dairy cows get an infectious disease, they’re likely to be given antibiotics. So what happens to the milk from those cows? I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.

Knowlton: We are at the barn that we call the special needs barn. There are a handful of cows in here that have been sick in the last few days and they are housed by themselves and given a little special treatment.

We’re with Katharine Knowlton, a professor in the Department of Dairy Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech. She’s pointing out that a few of the cows in the special needs barn are wearing orange leg bands, a sign that they’re received antibiotics and that their milk is going to be discarded.

Knowlton: Internationally scientists are really concerned about the emerging problem of resistance to antibiotics. And there is real concern that animal agriculture may be contributing to the problem.
Dairy farmers don’t feed their cows antibiotics on a routine basis. The quality of the milk is of utmost importance.
The milk from any cow who has been treated for antibiotics cannot be sold, and so we separate out any cows that do need antibiotics for disease.
On dairy farms, every load of milk every day is tested for antibiotics. All across the US, all across Canada, every load of milk is tested every day. And if a load of milk is found to contain even trace amounts of antibiotic, that milk cannot be sold. It is, in fact, destroyed. The farmer has to pay for that load of milk. If a farm ships a load of milk with antibiotics two times in one year, that farmer loses his license to produce and sell milk. Because of all of this testing, milk containing antibiotics is not found in the marketplace.

You can hear this and previous programs on our podcast. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.

Antibiotics and Milk

What happens to the milk from cows who were given antibiotics?
Air Date:03/14/2016
Scientist:
Transcript:

Antibiotics and Milk
ambience: cows
When dairy cows get an infectious disease, they're likely to be given antibiotics. So what happens to the milk from those cows? I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.

Knowlton: We are at the barn that we call the special needs barn. There are a handful of cows in here that have been sick in the last few days and they are housed by themselves and given a little special treatment.

We're with Katharine Knowlton, a professor in the Department of Dairy Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech. She's pointing out that a few of the cows in the special needs barn are wearing orange leg bands, a sign that they're received antibiotics and that their milk is going to be discarded.

Knowlton: Internationally scientists are really concerned about the emerging problem of resistance to antibiotics. And there is real concern that animal agriculture may be contributing to the problem.
Dairy farmers don't feed their cows antibiotics on a routine basis. The quality of the milk is of utmost importance.
The milk from any cow who has been treated for antibiotics cannot be sold, and so we separate out any cows that do need antibiotics for disease.
On dairy farms, every load of milk every day is tested for antibiotics. All across the US, all across Canada, every load of milk is tested every day. And if a load of milk is found to contain even trace amounts of antibiotic, that milk cannot be sold. It is, in fact, destroyed. The farmer has to pay for that load of milk. If a farm ships a load of milk with antibiotics two times in one year, that farmer loses his license to produce and sell milk. Because of all of this testing, milk containing antibiotics is not found in the marketplace.

You can hear this and previous programs on our podcast. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.