QUALITY MILK AND TESTS FOR ANTIBIOTIC RESIDUES

One goal of total quality management is to prevent the occurrence of a ntibiotics in raw milk shipped from the farm. An effective approach to meet this goal is the implementation of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critic al Control Point) procedures, which are part of the Milk and Dairy Bee f Quality Assurance Program for antibiotic avoidance. The program defi nes 10 critical control points, including screening tests for preventi ng antibiotic residues. Although milk from individual cows clearly sho uld be tested to ensure that antibiotic-free milk is leaving the farm, it is not clear whether any existing tests can be reliably used on mi lk samples from individual cows, or even on samples from bulk tanks. T he FDA acceptance procedures have not required that bulk milk tests un dergo a population evaluation; these tests have not been objectively e valuated for individual cows. Of more concern, detection limits differ among tests, sometimes approaching zero. Despite the intent of the Pa steurized Milk Ordinance, milk acceptability definitions vary between states. In addition, the predictive value of test results has not been integrated into the regulatory process. Although largely ignored by t he regulatory agencies, these issues cannot be ignored by the dairy in dustry. Ultimately, the milk testing program should become a component of the quality process that is centered on the farm and that measures the success of the industry in producing high quality milk rather tha n being a regulatory program that searches for a flawed product.