New 18-hour test
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Although
the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s “Swab Test on the
Premises” is known as “STOP,”
this quick test for antibiotics has
become a “go” signal to speed the
inspection process in meat- plants
throughout the country.
“By using the test, USDA in
spectors can know within 18 hours
whether carcasses of dairy cows
have traces of antibiotics,” said
Ralph Johnston, chief of
microbiology for USDA’s Food
Safety and Inspection Service. “It
used to be a week or two before the
test results were available.
“USDA veterinarians test for
antibiotics when they see animals
with signs of ifection or with
injection mark >s which could
mean antibiotic treatment shortly
before the animals were
marketed,” Johnston said.
Before the swab test was
available, inspectors had to hold a
suspect carcass at the slaughter
house for a week to two weeks
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while tissue samples were mailed
to a laboratory for analysis and
results mailed back to the plant.
“Now, when inspectors suspect
an animal has been treated with
antibiotics, they use STOP,”
Johnston said. “They have an
answer within 18 hours.”
If the test shows no antibiotics,
the carcass can move on into
commerce.
“When antibiotics are found in
the kidney the first tissue tested
then inspectors use the
screening test on muscle tissue,”
Johnston said. "It the meat is
positive, then the carcass is held
until samples are sent to an FSIS
laboratory for analysis by more
definite procedures. The carcass
isn’t condemned unless violations
are confirmed by the laboratory.”
Not only is the swab test fast
it’s simple, accurate and inex
pensive, Johnston said.
“Inspectors insert an ordinary
sterile cotton swab into a kidney,
liver or muscle tissue then put
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speeds antibiotic meat
the swab on a bacterial culture
plate,” Johnston said. “If an
tibiotics are present, the bacteria
on the plate stop growing and an
easy-to-see zone is left around the
swab.
“Before . STOP program
began, speciah
USDA agencies teamed up with
industry associations and state
officials to tell dairy farmers about
the problem of antibiotic residues
in meat,” Johnston said. “The
problem occurs when cows are
marketed too soon after treatment
with the drugs.
“The response to the educational
effort was immediate,” Johnston
said. “Within months, the team
effort began to pay-off. Violations
began to decline. In 1978, before
the program was initiated, an
tibiotics were found in about 3.7
percent of animals tested. By 1980,
the figure dropped dramatically to
1.2 percent.
“Once dairy farmers became
familiar with the problem, their
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practices changed,” said John--
ston. “Holding animals for the
needed withdrawal time after
giving antibiotics has meant fewer
animals with the problem are
being sent to slaughter.”
The screening test was
developed by microbiologists at
FSIS’s Methods Development
Laboratory in Beltsville, . Md.
“Before we distributed it, we first'
made sure it was accurate and
rugged enough for field use,” said
Johnston.
, ,i
“In less than two years, its use
has spread from two trial plants to
approximately 500 plants in
cluding all the major ones dealing
with dairy cows m 44 states,” said
Johnston. “Inspectors are now
using it in a limited way for other
types of beef cattle and veal calves
as well.’
A 1980 survey proved the test’s
reliabililty, Johnston said.
“Of the nearly 2,000 samples
testing negative no antibiotics
with the swab test only one ac
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tually proved to contain such drugs
upon re-testing with more exact
laboratory methods,” Johnston
said. “But even that one sample
did not contain violative levels.
“The test’s practicality is only
one reason the STOP program has
been successful,” said Johnston.
“More important has been the
cooperative spirit between dairy
fanners and government officials.
The outcome has been a speedier
inspection process and better
animal husbandry. These im
provements benefit everyone
from producer to processor to
consumer.”
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