Market for milk from cows using limited antibiotics

Consumers in the US would be willing to buy milk from cows only treated with antibiotics when medically necessary — as long as the price isn’t much higher than conventional milk, according to researchers at Cornell University.

“What this means is that there could potentially be a large market for RAU milk as long as the price isn’t much higher than conventional milk, so it’s a possible new option for conventional farmers,” said Robert Schell, first author of the study.

The findings published in the Journal of Dairy Science suggest conventional farmers could tap a potentially large market for this type of milk if they can find the right price point — and that dairy consumers can help slow the rise of antimicrobial resistance.

In the paper, the researchers propose a new label for milk that indicates responsible antibiotic use (RAU), which would leverage consumer preferences to reduce the use of antibiotics on commercial dairy farms. The study showed that although a consumer’s willingness to pay for the RAU-labelled milk was comparable to how much they would pay for the unlabelled milk, they strongly preferred the RAU-labelled milk over the unlabelled milk option. Therefore, the researchers hypothesise this new RAU label would entice farmers to minimise antibiotics more than they do for conventional, unlabelled milk.

Too much antibiotic treatment in cows leads to the rise of resistant strains of bacteria, which can make antibiotics for both animals and humans less effective, the researchers note. “Consumers should know that their choices are important, and that their understanding of antibiotic use could move the dairy industry toward more sustainable milk production practices,” said Dr Ece Bulut, research associate in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences and co-author of the study.

A similar label for certified responsible antibiotic use (CRAU) is already used in the poultry industry, Bulut said. CRAU limits the use of medically important antibiotics — antibiotics used in human medicine — in poultry production. The researchers envision that the RAU label would similarly be determined by veterinarians and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) standards, so that any carton of milk with an RAU label would come from a cow treated with antibiotics only when medically necessary.

“The existing literature suggests that larger bodies regulating these sorts of claims, like the USDA and CRAU certification, makes consumers more willing to trust and, as a result, buy products with desirable labels,” Schell said.

This study is an important initial step in exploring consumer attitudes towards an RAU label and its potential market for conventional farmers, the researchers said.

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