The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have launched a new exploratory sampling program for antibiotic residues in cattle that are claimed to be raised without antibiotics.
Establishments that are eligible for the sampling program are those that slaughter cattle and are producing products are labeled with “No Antibiotics,” “No Antibiotics Ever,” “Raised Without Antibiotics,” “Antibiotic Free,” “No Antibiotics Administered,” or related claims. FSIS will collect liver and kidney samples from eligible cattle, and ARS will analyze the samples using a method that targets more than 180 veterinary drugs from various major classes of antibiotics.