[SallyintNorth]

"microbiological standards" is surely a measure of the bacteria present. Whether they test for specific bacteria, I don't know.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Yes. We have to perform regular tests on our milk before we sell it to our regular cheese producers. TB test is a once a year thing for us, unless livestock is being sold. They test for bacteria cell counts in the milk, so far we have had really low numbers, which is good

[harmony]

Yes, milk sold on for processing is tested more than raw milk sold straight to the public.


The rules are different in Scotland, England and Wales because there is no overall directive from the EU. The rules are different between species too.

[SallyintNorth]

Yes, milk sold on for processing is tested more than raw milk sold straight to the public.

That is bizarre, in that most processing would kill off the wrong bacteria anyway. Except making unpasteurised cheese, I guess, or unpasteurised butter, if anyone does that.

[harmony]

Yes, milk sold on for processing is tested more than raw milk sold straight to the public.

That is bizarre, in that most processing would kill off the wrong bacteria anyway. Except making unpasteurised cheese, I guess, or unpasteurised butter, if anyone does that.

I completely agree!

[Buttermilk]

Any trace of anitbiotic and cheese will not make.  The amount of milk that would then have to be disposed of in most processing plants would be huge and have a big cost implication.  You can understand the extra testing then.

[pharnorth]

Sort of. My experience is pharmaceutical rather than food stuffs, but the essential premise is the same.  You minimise contamination throughout the process. So you would have micro test limits on you raw materials (e.g milk).  You then use process (e.g steam sterilisation/ pasteurisation) to kill anything present.  You do NOT take any old contaminated stuff and try and kill off anything in it. A lot of sterilisation processes have an effectiveness based on a kill rate of bacteria. Also you really really do not want all your high value high volume processing kit full of contaminated stuff however well made it is there are always nooks and crannies.......

[Black Sheep]

I tried to get a TB jab, drs told me they are not available in the UK anymore, due to the fact  that they have moved them over to India/Africa where it is more prevalent. Seems ludicrous to me, when coming from farming background you need one...

Sorry [member=42855]waterbuffalofarmer[/member], not true.

The vaccines haven't been moved anywhere and TB vaccination still occurs in the UK. However it is a targeted programme based on risk rather than vaccinating everyone. The following is from NHS Choices:

"BCG vaccination is recommended for people aged 16 to 35 who are at occupational risk of TB exposure, including:
- veterinary staff and other animal workers, such as abattoir workers, who work with animals that are susceptible to TB, such as cattle or monkeys"

Whether animal workers includes farmers is open to interpretation. There are other sources that suggest it isn't meant to routinely include all farmers, but whether things would be different for farmers with cattle, I don't know.

I guess you could look at the data to provide reassurance anyway - there are only 350 deaths a year in the UK and the majority of these will be in people with major underlying risk factors, e.g. poor immune systems, or who do not correctly use the therapies available, rather than otherwise fit and healthy people who happen to pick it up.

40% of cases were in London and it concentrates in inner cities. Other than communities with links to areas of the world where levels are high, other major risk factors are drug and alcohol misuse and homelessness. This doesn't shout "farmer" to me.

Also from NHS Choices:

"BCG vaccinations are not usually offered to people over the age of 16 and never over the age of 35, because the vaccine doesn't work well in adults."

Plus there is evidence immunity declines with time - and there has never been a booster programme - so those of us who had BCG in the 80s/90s have probably lost a lot of the protection anyway.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Well if that's the case I need to have a word with my Dr again. She assured me that I wasn't able to have one because they no longer do it. You could say if any of our animals acquired the said disease I could be highly at risk....

[Sbom]

I asked my doctor about getting kids vaccinated due to drinking raw milk and being in TB ridden area,  he really didn't know if they needed it but said they don't routinely give them anymore.....and this was in a rural area.

Mentioned it to the vet and he said we absolutely shouldn't drink the milk! 

[Marches Farmer]

Personally with TB I've found closed herds work well especially if your TB free, but one thing I have found from working in a veterinary background is that many people don't realise that any birds or mammals can also carry TB this could mean your sheep or other livestock in the fields with your cattle even poultry, birds & deer that feed off their feed or are around them or even your dogs & cats - ok the last one is very unlikely, & although it is rare in humans it some strains can cross over to different species.

Very high incidence of bTB in deer culled in shoots on the Marches.  Wasn't there also a case in Cornwall a few years ago where someone fed badgers in her garden and her daughter caught it, and her cat died from TB?  Children used to be given gold top milk "to help them grow".  And there was the bottle of milk at break time.  Not, generally speaking, the generation that's now suffering from burgeoning morbid obesity.