From Dairy Farm to Science Fair

One of the most interesting stories from the lab department occurred about 12 months ago and continues to unfold. We received a call from the father of Chad Campbell, a very inquisitive, 12 year-old who loved science. His son’s school had a science fair and Chad wanted to, of course, win first place. Chad did some investigating on the web regarding test kits for antibiotic detection in meat; our Premi®Test kit for meat came up in his search. His father called us and talked with Fritz, our technical director, who explained exactly how to run the Premi®Test and the necessary items to run the test properly. Jenni, our product administrator, got the quote together and much to our surprise they ordered the incubator and kit.

For his project he chose 20 different grocery stores within a 60 mile radius to run 20 different meat samples. Of the 20 samples of meat tested three came back positive for antibiotic residue. His project was entitled “The Debate on Your Plate! Are there Antibiotics Present in the Meat We Purchase from Local Grocery Stores?” Chad found a lot of controversy regarding overuse and misuse of antibiotics being the main cause of antibiotic resistance.

Some organizations accuse, while other organizations deny farms of giving their healthy food animals antibiotics as a preventative and to promote growth. Some dairy farms often treat animals inappropriately without identifying pathogens or whether they are even present, then ship before testing to see if the residue has cleared the tissues. An interesting, but unsettling fact he found is - 70% of all antibiotics in the U.S. are given to healthy food animals.

We are proud to announce Chad won first place at his school, top 30 in the U.S. He presented his findings in Washington D.C. and won third place. Congratulations Chad!