In June, Neogen Corp. announced it received approval from the FDA and National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS) for its BetaStar Plus assay, used to detect dairy antibiotic residues, including ceftiofur, in milk. This approval allows milk producers and processors in the U.S. to use Neogen’s new test to comply with FDA regulations that require the mandatory testing of raw milk tankers for dairy antibiotic residues, under Appendix N of the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO).
Neogen’s newly approved BetaStar Plus test detects dairy antibiotic residues in the beta-lactam group (penicillin, ampicillin, amoxicillin, cephapirin, ceftiofur and cloxacillin) at or below U.S. FDA regulatory levels. BetaStar is an extremely simple dipstick test that requires only minimal training and equipment to produce consistently accurate results.
“This approval process was very thorough, and proves that our new test is fully capable of delivering the accurate results that milk producers and processors demand,” said Ed Bradley, Neogen’s vice president for Food Safety. “BetaStar Plus was developed specifically to meet the regulatory tolerances for beta-lactam antibiotics, including ceftiofur, for milk in the U.S. market, and is a new version of our BetaStar test that is a market leader in approximately 40 countries around the world.”
BetaStar Plus is one of the fastest dairy antibiotic tests available, and can be used on the farm, at the tanker, or in the laboratory. BetaStar Plus had previously earned an important approval from the AOAC Research Institute (AOAC-RI 021107) after rigorous testing.