Legal Basis (Europe)
The use of anti-infectives is indispensable for the treatment of illness in animal farming. However, it must be taken into account that animals treated in this way excrete the anti-infectives administered in both altered and unaltered form through their urine, faeces, and also in their milk. The treatment of mastitis, in particular, requires that antibiotics and other anti-infectives be administered directly into the udder; these are then discharged in the milk. Contamination of milk is therefore unavoidable during treatment of mastitis with anti-infectives, and also for a certain period after conclusion of treatment. Statutory withdrawal times must therefore be observed after the use of veterinary medicines before the next milk delivery.
Within the European Union, uniform European maximums (MRL= Maximum Residue Limit) for veterinary medicinal residues in foodstuffs of animal origin, and thereby also in milk, were set down by law in EEC Regulation No. 470/2009. According to EEC Regulation, in order to safeguard the consumer from inhibitory substances or residual anti-infectives milk may only be brought into circulation if the statutory maximum (MRL = Maximum Residue Limit) in the milk be not exceeded.
A microbiological inhibitor test for the qualitative detection of antibiotics and sulfonamides in both raw and heat-treated milk which is required to contain the test bacterium Geobacillus stearothermophilus var. calidolactis is described in the decision of the Commission (91/180/EEC). The Brilliant Black Reduction Test (BRT) is one such procedure.
The use of anti-infectives is indispensable for the treatment of illness in animal farming. However, it must be taken into account that animals treated in this way excrete the anti-infectives administered in both altered and unaltered form through their urine, faeces, and also in their milk. The treatment of mastitis, in particular, requires that antibiotics and other anti-infectives be administered directly into the udder; these are then discharged in the milk. Contamination of milk is therefore unavoidable during treatment of mastitis with anti-infectives, and also for a certain period after conclusion of treatment. Statutory withdrawal times must therefore be observed after the use of veterinary medicines before the next milk delivery.
Within the European Union, uniform European maximums (MRL= Maximum Residue Limit) for veterinary medicinal residues in foodstuffs of animal origin, and thereby also in milk, were set down by law in EEC Regulation No. 470/2009. According to EEC Regulation, in order to safeguard the consumer from inhibitory substances or residual anti-infectives milk may only be brought into circulation if the statutory maximum (MRL = Maximum Residue Limit) in the milk be not exceeded.
A microbiological inhibitor test for the qualitative detection of antibiotics and sulfonamides in both raw and heat-treated milk which is required to contain the test bacterium Geobacillus stearothermophilus var. calidolactis is described in the decision of the Commission (91/180/EEC). The Brilliant Black Reduction Test (BRT) is one such procedure.
