The European Commission has issued a report on antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance that includes a section on Europeans' "attitudes towards the use of antibiotics on sick animals, and their awareness of the ban on using antibiotics to stimulate growth in farm animals." The report states that 56 percent of respondents believed that sick animals should be given antibiotics, while 35 percent told researchers that sick animals should not be treated with antibiotics. The majority of respondents—58 percent—did not know that the use of antibiotics to stimulate growth in farm animals is banned in the EU, which represents a drop by two percentage points since the same question was asked in a 2016 study.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published Commissioner Scott Gottlieb's September 14, 2018, remarks delivered at the Pew Charitable Trusts on the issue of antimicrobial resistance, including the effects of antibiotics in animals raised for food production. Gottlieb indicated that the agency will release "a draft strategy, likely as a new guidance for industry, by the end of fiscal year 2020" to advise companies on "ensuring that medically important antimicrobials are labeled with appropriately defined durations of use." In addition, FDA's Science Board will hold a public meeting on October 22, 2018, to hear the Center for Veterinary Medicine's response to the board's recommendations on the National Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring System. The board will also discuss "potential hazards and nutritional considerations in the production of food derived from animal cell culture technologies."
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the availability of guidelines recommending against the routine use of antibiotics in healthy animals. WHO cited a meta-analysis funded by the agency and reported in The Lancet concluding that interventions restricting antibiotic use could be effective in reducing antibiotic resistance. "Scientific evidence demonstrates that overuse of antibiotics in animals can contribute to the emergence of antibiotic resistance," a WHO representative said. "The volume of antibiotics used in animals is continuing to increase worldwide, driven by a growing demand for foods of animal origin, often produced through intensive animal husbandry.”
A U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) study has criticized the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) for their failure to ensure that imported seafood does not contain unsafe levels of antibiotic or other drug residues. According to the GAO, about 90 percent of the seafood eaten in the United States is imported, and about half of imported seafood is raised on fish farms where producers treat fish to prevent infections and foodborne illnesses. GAO makes five main recommendations: (i) FDA should pursue agreements with exporting countries to test for “drugs of concern” and residue levels; (ii) FSIS should conduct onsite audits of fish farms instead of limiting visits to government offices, commercial food processing facilities and food testing labs; (iii) FSIS should require exporting countries to include residue-monitoring plans in equivalence determinations; (iv) FDA and FSIS should collaborate to develop…
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved an ordinance that will require certain grocery stores to report the use of antibiotics in raw meat and poultry. Scheduled to take effect in April 2018, the ordinance requires grocers that own or operate 25 or more stores to submit annual reports that include the purposes for which the antibiotics were used, the number of animals raised, the total volume of antibiotics administered and whether the use was “medically important.” Grocers who violate the ordinance may be subject to fines or imprisonment.
The National Advertising Division (NAD) has recommended that Sanderson Farms change a campaign claiming that its competitors are tricking consumers with "raised without antibiotics" labels on poultry products. NAD found that the information in Sanderson's ads was accurate, including its claim that "none of the chicken you buy in the grocery store has antibiotics in it. By federal law, all chicken must be clear of antibiotics before they leave the farm." However, NAD recommended that the language Sanderson used to describe its competitors' "antibiotic-free" labels, including "marketing gimmick," "full of hot air," "just a trick to get you to pay more money" and "a phrase invented to make chicken sound safer," should be changed, noting that the scientific community lacks a consensus on the safety of consuming meat from animals raised using antibiotics. Sanderson reportedly "respectfully disagrees" with the decision but will adjust the campaign to reflect NAD's concerns. "The…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced it will hold a public advisory committee meeting of its Science Board on June 26, 2017, in Silver Spring, Maryland. The Science Board will hear an update on FDA’s biotechnology activities related to animals and plant-derived food as well as a report from the National Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring System Review Subcommittee. Written submissions of data, information or opinions may be made on or before June 19, 2017. Issue 638
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a March 2017 report noting several oversight gaps in federal agencies’ efforts to track and curtail antibiotic use in food animals. According to GAO, the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture (USDA) have implemented several measures designed to reduce antibiotic resistance by increasing veterinary supervision of animal drug use; altering drug labeling guidance; and collecting data from food producers on their antibiotic regimens. But GAO notes that these initiatives fall short of the more stringent government regulations promulgated by Canada, Denmark and the European Union, which have reportedly achieved reductions in antibiotic use in food animals and improved data collection. “For example, changes to drug labels do not address longterm and openended use of antibiotics for disease prevention because some antibiotics do not define duration of use on their labels,” states GAO. “FDA officials told GAO they are seeking public…
A study has purportedly suggested that antibiotic treatments for foulbrood and other pathogens can disrupt the gut microbiota of honeybees, increasing their susceptibility to opportunistic bacterial infections. Kasie Raymann, et al., “Antibiotic exposure perturbs the gut microbiota and elevates mortality in honeybees,” PLoS Biology, March 2017. To examine the effects of common bee antibiotics, University of Texas researchers followed specimens from a single hive that received either sugar water or tetracycline. Their results evidently showed “that honeybees treated with antibiotics and returned to the hive had decreased survivorship when compared to untreated bees.” The authors further note, “Control bees had, on average, five times more bacterial cells in their guts than bees treated with tetracycline.” Tetracycline also failed to eliminate the targeted bacterial species in the treated bees, raising questions among the researchers about antibiotic resistance in domestic bee populations. “The aim of the study was for us to better…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has updated its guidelines on the documentation needed to support animal-raising labeling claims, which include “Raised Without Antibiotics,” “Organic,” “Grass-Fed,” “Free-Range” and “Raised with the use of hormones.” Among other things, the agency requires the following information to support such claims: (i) “a detailed written description explaining the controls used for ensuring that the raising claim is valid from birth to harvest or the period of raising being referenced by the claim”; (ii) “a signed and dated document describing how the animals are raised (e.g., vegetarian-fed, raised without antibiotics, grass-fed), to support that the specific claim made is truthful and not misleading”; (iii) “a written description of the product-tracing and segregation mechanism from time of slaughter or further processing through packaging and wholesale or retail distribution”; (iv) “a written description for the identification, control, and segregation of non-conforming animals…
