Worried about antibiotics in livestock? Here are the facts

Three years ago, I wrote about antibiotic use in raising livestock, which was a problem — and still is, although much progress has been made. But when someone recently said to me, “I switched to almond milk because I heard that dairy milk contains antibiotics,” I realized there’s still some myth-busting to do. It would indeed be bad if we were getting antibiotics in our milk — but we’re not. Tens of thousands of retail samples of pasteurized milk, cream, yogurt and sour cream are tested annually. Since 2010, none have tested positive for antibiotic residues (traces of leftover antibiotics), because there are multiple layers of safeguards to make sure that doesn’t happen. On dairy farms, if a sick cow must receive antibiotics, that cow’s milk will be dumped until the antibiotics have cleared her system. In organic dairy production, the rules are even stricter — if a cow needs antibiotics, her milk can’t be sold as organic, even once she’s in the clear. When a milk truck comes to pick up a dairy’s milk, the driver takes a sample of the milk. Once the driver arrives at the milk plant, another sample is taken and tested. Any batch of milk — no matter how large — that tests positive for traces of antibiotics at any point is thrown out.What about meat and poultry? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), strict rules mandate that no antibiotics be in an animal’s system when it is slaughtered. This further ensures there are no antibiotic residues in the meat or poultry you eat in a restaurant or buy at the grocery store.