May 27, 2009

The Chinese Health Ministry has recently launched a crackdown on the production and sale of "antibiotic-free milk", indicating the product as misleading consumers.

 

The Ministry has set an ultimatum date of June 30 for dairy producers to remove the advertising tag-line of "antibiotic-free" from their packaging, a term which claims that the product is not milked from sick cows under antibiotic treatment, thus it does not contain any drug residue. 

 

A person's system will build up resistance against future prescription of antibiotics if he or she drinks antibiotic-laced milk for a long period of time. This could become problematic when one truly needs antibiotic treatment, said a senior management personnel from a dairy firm.

 

As the crackdown gathered pace, a new terminology called β-lactamase was made known to the public, which is an illegal food additive that could neutralise antibiotic residues in raw milk. 

 

Shanghai Bright Dairy first brought up the concept of "antibiotic-free milk" in 2002, which drew criticisms from fellow industry players.

 

At that time, China Dairy Industry Association was against the use of such term and deemed it as a marketing hype. The association justified that antibiotic-laced milk products in the market were within acceptable level and they posed no health concerns.

 

According to an association board member's explanation, if a sick cow was being treated with the drug, milk produced by the cow would contain antibiotic residues within the next seven days. Furthermore, some dairy farmers and operators in milk collection centres would at times add the drug into raw milk to destroy bacteria.

 

In the first half of 2006, a spot check by the Chinese authorities found that some 50 percent of the milk products in China contained excessive antibiotic residues. Following the investigation, officials supported Shanghai Bright Dairy's call for producing "antibiotic-free milk", which led to more industry players to manufacture such type of milk.

 

However, the target of producing "antibiotic-free" milk later resulted in the illegal use of β-lactamase, also known as antibiotic-destroyer.

 

β-lactamase is used to hydrolyse antibiotic residues in raw milk and it is claimed that this product could reduce antibiotic residues to undetectable levels even when cattle are milked right after receiving antibiotic treatment. It is unclear whether this additive eliminates the allergenic components of antibiotics while its overall safety for human consumption has not been fully evaluated.

 

Despite the booming "antibiotic-free" milk sector, antibiotic-laced milk continues to exist in the Chinese market. One reason for such co-existence could be attributed to a lack of clear guidelines.

 

Chen Yu, analyst of Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultant Company, said dairy firms were not obliged to produce milk that was totally free of antibiotic residue. In fact, market competition and higher profits were the reasons for the firms to produce antibiotic-free milk.

 

Wang Dingming, a board member of the China Dairy Industry Association, said the price offered for antibiotic-free raw milk ranged between RMB2,000 and 2,500 per tonne (US$291.8-US$364.8/tonne), which was double or triple the amount offered for antibiotic-laced milk.