Dairy farmer recalls milk from Ferneley’s in Whissendine on Rutland-Leicestershire border following concerns about antibiotics levels

Police and health experts are looking into whether a dairy farm has been subjected to a malicious attack.

A farmer in Whissendine contacted Leicestershire Police yesterday (Thursday, August 15) reporting that milk produced on the farm had been found to be unusually high in antibiotics.

Milk supplied by Ferneley's farmers, based on the Leicestershire-Rutland border, has been recalled as a precaution and this morning’s bottled deliveries were stopped.

In an email to customers, many of whom are based in Rutland, farmers described halting deliveries as a hard but essential decision, and said safety is the priority.

They added: “We have completed a full internal investigation here at Ferneley’s and on our farm, checking all CCTV and protocols.

“We are pleased to say that we have found no evidence of bad practice and all protocols have been adhered to.

“As we have found no cause through our investigations, we have reason to believe that this may have been conducted with malicious intent from an external source.”

An officer from Leicestershire Police’s rural crime team visited the farm today, and is providing support.

Melton Borough Council is also aware of the issue and its officers are working with the team at the farm and their partners to find out what happened.

Rajwinder Ubhi, head of incidents at the Food Standards Agency, said: “We are aware of the incident relating to milk produced by Ferneley’s Dairy in Leesthorpe and will be following it up with the relevant enforcing authorities to establish further details.

“If there is a food safety concern, we will take appropriate action.”

Ferneley’s will be carry out more testing before milk deliveries restart.