August 4, 2006

China to set rules on antibiotics in milk
 

A new national standard on raw milk that make the testing of antibiotics and flavacol M1 in raw milk compulsory for dairy processors has been drawn up by the Ministry of Agriculture and is waiting to be approved by the Standardisation Administration of China, according China Business News.

Antibiotics are widely used by Chinese dairy farmers to treat infections in their herds and there is no regulation to restrict their use. However, residues of these drugs can reach a cow's milk and therefore be consumed by humans.

A survey conducted by China's food safety authority AQSIQ in the first half of this year showed that half the milk products on the market contained residues of antibiotics, according to the paper.

While the practice in other countries is that cows given antibiotics are withheld from the milk supply for days, this is not the case in China.

Also, while both farmers and dairy processors carry out routine testing for antibiotics in other countries, no testing has been carried out so far in China.

It is not known when or how strictly the new standard would be enforced, although AQSIQ said it would carry out spot checks on milk suppliers, with fines for those found to contain antibiotic residues.

Processors may have more difficulty implementing the scheme, especially for those who source milk from many farmers.

Still, there is a precedent. In Guangdong province, farmers have been controlling antibiotic residues since they began exporting to Hong Kong in the 1980s. This shows that the standard can be implemented across China, says Wang Dingmian, deputy chairman of Guangdong Dairy Association.

So long as farmers isolate sick cows and separate their milk from the milk collected during normal days, their milk would not be contaminated by antibiotics, he said.

In Guangdong, the milk collected during from sick cows is fed to calves, or used to produce condensed milk. Dairy companies buy milk from farmers for RMB 3000 to RMB 3500 (US$376-US$439) a tonne, and milk with antibiotic residues sells for just RMB 500 (US$62.7) a tonne.