Milk Testing
Salmonella Dublin Bulk Tank Milk ELISA Test
Why bulk milk testing?
The proposed program will combine a variety of data collection modalities to develop a comprehensive understanding of S. Dublin in BC. The most important of these modalities is bulk milk tank testing for S. Dublin antibodies, which is the global gold standard for surveillance.
Bulk milk tank testing is the best way to determine the number of farms currently infected with S. Dublin and where those farms are located – both of which are essential for understanding the significance of the disease in BC and for starting to understand and interrupt transmission pathways among farms. It also helps to identify farms that may not know they are infected. This, in turn, allows for improved biosecurity and management practices that could lead to better control of the infection within the herd and decrease the probability of spread to other herds.
How will the bulk milk testing program work?
Cattle infected with S. Dublin produce specific antibodies that can be detected in milk samples. Testing milk for antibodies to S Dublin with an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test allows for identification of S. Dublin infected herds is an efficient, rapid, and cost-effective screening method.
A total of 4 BTM samples (provided courtesy of Lactanet and the Milk Marketing Board) will be tested for every participating farm in BC for one year. Testing is free of charge and the results will be made available to you through our password-encrypted page.
Bulk milk tank testing results are strictly confidential and anonymous. To ensure anonymity, each producer is provided with a unique, program-specific ID. At no time will we publish identifying information related to you, your farm, or your veterinarian. You will be sent an email containing your unique, project-specific, confidential code that you can use to look up your results.
Protecting your privacy and ability to act upon your results in whatever manner you see fit is our #1 priority. There are no regulatory consequences for a positive test and your results and personal information will not be shared with the Milk Marketing Board, BC Dairy Association, Ministry of Agriculture Regulatory Unit, or any other individual or agency. Note that you may opt out of this testing at any time simply by emailing us.
You are encouraged to communicate with your herd health veterinarian regarding your results. You can also have your herd health veterinarian linked to your program profile so that they can monitor your results on your behalf. Please email us with your veterinarian’s name or clinic name If you would like to have your heard health veterinarian linked to your project profile.
How do I access and interpret my results?
The milk ELISA test sensitivity improves with serial bulk tank milk tests. This means that multiple, sequential tests can increase our confidence that a negative test is in fact, negative. More information on test interpretation can be found in our FAQ.
Bulk milk tank results are accessed here. Note that the results of blood serology, tissue/ fecal cultures, or post mortems are sent directly to the submitter and will not be published online on this website.