Role of the farmer in preventing residues of antibiotics in farm milk : Quality management at farm level

Residues of veterinary medicinal products in milk are more and more severely monitored due to the changed legislation and improved screening methods. All these measures have to encourage milk producers to pay extra attention in preventing milk deliveries from being contaminated with veterinary drug residues, by respecting the general principles of 'Good Farming Practice' regarding residues of antibiotics and other veterinary drugs. An investigation, performed in Belgium with farms selected at random from the group of farms with a bulk-tank milk failure, reveals the main causes of accidental bulk tank contaminations. In order to prevent penalties, the farmer can also test the milk of treated cows after respecting the withholding period. A few simple test kits are commercially available at farm level. Some kits are broad-spectrum microbiological inhibitor tests, while other more rapid tests, based on a receptor, can detect the presence of β-lactam residues in less than 10 minutes.