Congressional Reps Ask FDA for Info on Antibiotics in Distillers Grain Used as Livestock Feed
Referring to a report on the presence of antibiotic residues in distillers grain,
an ethanol-production byproduct used as animal feed, U.S. Representatives
Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) have requested that
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg
provide information about the agency’s surveys of these residues and explain
why FDA has not acted to ensure that ethanol producers are complying
with federal food additives law. In their May 11, 2012, letter, the lawmakers
contend that the misuse of antibiotics leads to the growth of antibiotic-resistant
bacteria that threaten human health and results in the deaths of
some 90,000 people annually.
They note, “[t]he same antibiotics that are used in animal agriculture and that are important for human medicine such as penicillin, erythromycin, virginiamycin and tylosin, are also used by ethanol producers in order to prevent bacterial growth during the corn-based ethanol fermentation process. Producers sell the byproduct of ethanol production, known as ‘distillers grains with solubles’ or DGS, as livestock and poultry feed.” Citing the report, the lawmakers question why FDA, which has taken the position that the antimicrobial in distillers grains used as feed or feed ingredients would be considered a food additive and subject to regulation, has not taken action to enforce its rules. The report, produced by an advocacy organization known as the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, suggests that industry markets the antibiotics for these uses, contending they are generally recognized as safe, or GRAS, and thus are not subject to regulation as additives.
Markey and Slaughter specifically request whether (i) a 2008 FDA survey of antibiotic residues in DGS has been published, (ii) the information collected in the survey suggests “that drug contamination may pose a risk to animals used for human consumption,” (iii) the antibiotic residues are found in milk and eggs, and (iv) FDA believes that antibiotics in DGS used for animal feed “may pose a similar public health concern as the impact of directly using antibiotic drugs to promote livestock growth.” They also question why the agency chose “to ban the use of DGS contaminated with the antibiotic, virginiamycin, in laying hens, but not in other food-producing animals.”
