Drug and Chemical Residues in
Milk and Meat
Heidi Kassenborg DVM, MPH
Director
Dairy and Food Inspection Division
Minnesota Department of Agriculture
Minnesota
Minnesota Agricultural Production
Ranking in US
Ranking
Value of all Agricultural
products sold
7
Corn for grain
4
Soybeans for grain
3
Milk & Dairy products
6
Sugar beets
1
Turkeys
1
Hogs and pigs
3
Spinach Outbreak, 9/2006
Peanut butter, 2/2007
Regulatory Responsibility
Farm
Processor
Distributor
Retail
Restaurant/
Food Service
Mission of the
Mission
“… to enhance the quality of life for all
Minnesotans by ensuring the integrity of
our food supply, the health of our
environment, and the strength of our
agricultural economy.”
Chemical Residues
• Growth Promotants
• Arsenicals , Antibiotics, Clenbuterol
• Drugs
• Antimicrobials (Antibiotics, sulfonamides, coccidiostat,
anthelmentics, carbadox, phenylbutazone ,
Halafuginone
• Insecticide
• Chlorinated Hydrocarbons and organophosphates
Drug Residues and Human Health
• Acute pharmacological effects (Toxicity)
–Hypersensitivity/allergenicity
–Beta-agonist compound, Clenbuterol
• Long-term chronic effects
–Hormones
–Teratogens
–Cancer
• Microbial effects
–Human intestinal flora
–Resistant populations
Pasteurized Milk Ordinance
• “Industry shall screen
all bulk milk pickup
tankers, regardless of
final use, for Beta
lactam drug residues.”
• Beta lactam drugs
– “Penicillin-type ”
antibiotics
• Milk from several dairy farms are collected into a dairy
milk tanker and taken to processor
• Before tanker is hooked up to pump milk into silo at
processor, milk is tested for antibiotics
• If test is positive, milk is destroyed
– Dairy farmer pays for entire tanker of milk
Total discard for drugs = 0.02% of all milk
http://www.kandc-sbcc.com/nmdrd/fy-09.pdf
Dairy Regulation in the United States
• State inspectors conduct almost all farm and
milk processor inspections
• Dairy Farms are inspected either 2x/year (fluid
milk) and 1x/year (manufacturing grade)
– Veterinary drug labeling and storage
• Milk processors and manufacturing facilities
are inspected 4x/year
Who inspects the inspectors?
• Internal auditors, called Interstate Milk
Shipment Rating Officers
• Audit farms, processing plants, inspectors
ability to inspect, regulatory and enforcement
program
– Failure to pass can result in no fluid milk from that
processor
• Food and Drug Administration Milk Specialists
audit State Dairy Regulatory Programs
Producer Quality Assurance Programs
• Quality Assurance Programs for Producers
–For example, the Milk & Dairy Beef® Quality
Assurance Program
• Producer Manual of Best Management Practices (aka 10point Plan)
• Required for Milk Producers when they get an antibiotic
positive load
Milk & Dairy Beef Quality Assurance Center, Inc.
801 Shakespeare Ave
Stratford, Iowa 50249
800.553.2479
www.dqacenter.org
Audit Report 24601-08-KC March 2010
USDA Inspector General
National Residue Program Audit
“Based on our review, we found that
the national residue program is not
accomplishing its mission of
monitoring the food supply for
harmful residues. “
Drug Residue
Rates in Meat
Supplemental Drug Residue Testing
• Target dairies with a history of drug residue violations
• Collect sample from bulk tank
• Use newly developed test that includes non-beta
lactam type antibiotics and other chemicals
– Ampicillin, Cephapirin, Cloxacillin, Penicillin G,
Erythromycin, Tylosin, Enrofloxacin, Sarafloxacin,
Chlortetracycline, Oxytetracycline, Tetracycline,
Doxycycline, Sulfachloropyridazine, Sulfadiazine,
Sulfamerazine, Sulfadimethoxine, Sulfamethazine,
Sulfapyridine, Suflaquinoxaline, Sulfathiazole,
Tripelennamine, Thiabendazole, Pirlimycin, Flunixin,
Bacitracin, Virginiamycin, and Tilmicosin
Solution to Drug and Chemical
Residues
• No easy solution for drug and chemical
residues in milk
• System of control points, HACCP for the dairy
supply
• Education producers, veterinarians,
consumers
• Incentive to do the right thing has to be
greater than doing the wrong thing