--- title: FDA: Milk From Some Dairy Farms Contains Illegal Antibiotics description: The FDA found evidence of drugs that aren't cleared for dairy cows canonical: https://time.com/3738069/fda-dairy-farmers-antibiotics-milk/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-09T21:45:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:01:43.197Z article:section: Health og:title: FDA Finds Illegal Antibiotics in Milk og:description: The FDA found evidence of drugs that aren't cleared for dairy cows og:url: https://time.com/3738069/fda-dairy-farmers-antibiotics-milk/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: FDA Finds Illegal Antibiotics in Milk twitter:description: The FDA found evidence of drugs that aren't cleared for dairy cows twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Illegal Antibiotics Could Be in Your Milk, FDA Finds  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Mar 9, 2015 9:45 PM UTC  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Mar 9, 2015 9:45 PM UTC A small portion of milk produced by U.S. dairy farmers contains illegal antibiotics, a [new FDA report finds, ](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ucm435759.pdf)raising concerns that some farmers are circumventing food-safety laws by giving cows drugs that routine tests can’t detect. Milk intended for commercial sale is tested for six commonly used antibiotics, [NPR reports](http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2015/03/08/391248045/fda-tests-turn-up-dairy-farmers-breaking-the-law-on-antibiotics), and any shipment that tests positive for drug residue is barred from ever making it to the supermarket. Because of that, farmers only use antibiotics on the dairy cows when the cows’ health requires it, and they put those cows’ milk production on hold. The FDA has learned, however, that some farmers use antibiotics that aren’t even intended for cows because the drugs go undetected by these tests. The agency studied milk from close to 2,000 dairy farms, roughly half of which were under suspicion, and half of which were random samples. More than 1% of the under-suspicion group, and .4% of the other samples, tested positive for six antibiotics not FDA-approved for use on dairy cows. The FDA cannot investigate the farms in violation, however, because they don’t know which ones they are: the samples were anonymous because the survey was only for research. Dr. William Flynn, deputy director for science policy in the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, told NPR that the low numbers suggest regulation is “working well” but that the FDA may begin testing for more antibiotics to crack down on farmers’ violations. FDA: Milk From Some Dairy Farms Contains Illegal Antibiotics ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3738069/fda-dairy-farmers-antibiotics-milk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3738069/fda-dairy-farmers-antibiotics-milk/"},"headline":"Illegal Antibiotics Could Be in Your Milk, FDA Finds","datePublished":"2015-03-09T21:45:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:01:43.197Z","description":"A small percentage of farmers are giving dairy cows drugs that aren't intended for them","url":"https://time.com/3738069/fda-dairy-farmers-antibiotics-milk/","keywords":["Diet & Nutrition","Milk"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/dietnutrition/","name":"Diet & Nutrition"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3738069/fda-dairy-farmers-antibiotics-milk/","name":"Illegal Antibiotics Could Be in Your Milk, FDA Finds"}}]}] ```