Doesn treating mastitis require antibiotics which might find their way into milk and affect milk safety?
No. Federal and state milk safety and quality assurance programs, as well as testing by farmers and processors, ensure the safety and wholesomeness of milk. When a farmer treats a cow with an antibiotic, the milk from that cow is discarded by the farmer for several days as defined on the label of the antibiotic. In many cases today, a concerned farmer sends a sample of milk from that cow to the dairy plant to be tested for antibiotics before the milk from that cow is allowed to go in with the milk to be sold. When milk is picked up at dairy farms, the truck driver must take a sample of milk from the farm bulk tank at every farm before the milk is pumped into the truck. When every truck arrives at a milk processing plant, a milk sample is taken from the milk in the truck and tested for antibiotics. If the load is positive, the truck is not unloaded. Another sample is taken and the positive test is confirmed. If the load of milk is positive for antibiotics, then all of the individual far
