Allotments 4 All

Everytime I move any soil in my beds loads of red ants start scurrying around, seems my beds full of them. Are they going to do damage to plants. And how do I get rid of them so they dont bite me? I had a look at some ant killers while I was at the garden centre the other day and they all look a bit toxic to be using in vegetable beds.

red ants don't do much harm, in fact they eat slugs!