The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report criticizing the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) oversight of imported seafood safety. Noting that about one-half of imported seafood comes from fish farms that may use antibiotics to prevent bacterial infections, the report claims that “residues of some drugs can cause cancer and antibiotic resistance.” Titled “FDA Needs to Improve Oversight of Imported Seafood and Better Leverage Limited Resources,” the report urges FDA to enhance its import sampling program. “FDA’s oversight program to ensure the safety of imported seafood from residues of unapproved drugs is limited, especially as compared with the European Union,” the report states, adding that FDA inspectors “generally do not visit the farms to evaluate drug use or the capabilities, competence, and quality control of laboratories that analyze the seafood.” The report also recommends that FDA (i) “study the feasibility of adopting practices used by other entities to…
Tag Archives antibiotic
“Each year, federal inspectors find illegal levels of antibiotics in hundreds of older dairy cows bound for the slaughterhouse,” opens this article about the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) recent decision to begin testing milk from farms “that had repeatedly sold cows tainted by drug residue.” Concerned that “the same poor management practices which led to the meat residues may also result in drug residues in milk,” FDA evidently singled out approximately 900 dairy farms for testing that would include “two dozen antibiotics beyond the six that are typically tested for.” The new protocol also covered flunixin, “a painkiller and anti-inflammatory drug popular on dairy farms . . . which often shows up in the slaughterhouse testing.” Although the plan reportedly drew support from consumer advocates like the Center for Science in the Public Interest, it prompted a backlash from dairy farmers and state regulators who objected to the week-long…
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has released a report claiming that antibiotics used on farms “may be causing more serious pathogens in the nation’s food supply.” Calling for increased scrutiny by the federal government, the January 25, 2011, report asserts that recording outbreaks of foodborne illnesses and subsequently testing the pathogens for antibiotic resistance “is a critical step if policymakers are to document the link between antibiotic use on farm animals and human illness from antibiotic-resistant bacteria.” The consumer watchdog found that between 2000 and 2009, multi-drug resistance was found in 10 out of 14 antibiotic-resistant foodborne outbreaks. Of 35 documented outbreaks between 1973 and 2009, most involved raw milk, raw milk cheeses and ground beef. “Outbreaks from antibiotic-resistant strains of Salmonella, though rare, cannot be ignored by our food safety regulators,” said CSPI Food Safety Director Caroline Smith DeWaal. “The problem has clearly emerged with respect…
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s (IATP’s) Food and Society Fellows and Healthy Food Action project have announced a September 16, 2010, webinar titled “Superbugs, Super Problems: Agricultural Antibiotics and Emerging Infections.” Three presenters who recently testified before Congress will address “[t]he new scientific consensus . . . that routine, unnecessary use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry contributes significantly to a costly epidemic of antibiotic resistance” in diseases such as Salmonella, E. coli, and MRSA. Speakers will include University of Minnesota Professor of Medicine James Johnson; Gail Hensen, a senior officer of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industry Farming; and Maryn McKenna, author of Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA. To register for the program, please click here. Meanwhile, a coalition of agricultural and consumer groups has reportedly hand-delivered 180,000 letters to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in response to the agency’s call for comments…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued draft guidance that urges the “judicious” use of antibiotics in food-producing animals to minimize drug resistance in humans. The guidance recommends limiting “medically important” antimicrobial drugs to uses deemed necessary for animal health on the basis of veterinary oversight or consultation. It supports the theory that “nontheraputic” or “subtherapeutic” antibiotic use for production or growth enhancing purposes “is not in the interest of protecting and promoting the public health.” FDA has requested written comments by August 30, 2010. See FDA News Release, June 28, 2010; Federal Register, June 29, 2010. FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein has called the matter an urgent public health issue, telling news sources that the agency would issue new regulations if farmers do not voluntarily adhere to them. “We’re not handcuffed to the steering wheel of a particular strategy, but I’m not ruling out anything that we…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has submitted a proposed collection of information involving antimicrobial animal drugs to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act. According to the Federal Register notice, a 2008 amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act requires that “the sponsor of each new animal drug that contains an antimicrobial agent submit an annual report to FDA on the amount of each antimicrobial active ingredient in the drug that is sold or distributed for use in food-producing animals.” The first report under the law will be due March 31, 2010, and must specify (i) “The amount of each antimicrobial active ingredient by container size, strength, and dosage form”; (ii) “quantities distributed domestically and quantities exported”; and (iii) “a listing of the target animals, indications, and production classes that are specified on the approved label of the…
Multidistrict litigation (MDL) plaintiffs who challenged claims that Tyson products were made from “chickens raised without antibiotics” have sought approval of a settlement reached with the company. In re: Tyson Foods Inc., Chicken Raised Without Antibiotics Consumer Litigation, MDL No. 1982 (D. Md., motion filed January 12, 2010). Under the terms of the settlement, Tyson will pay up to $5 million to three tiers of plaintiffs: those who can provide receipts (they can recover up to $50); those who can estimate how much they spent on the products, how often they purchased them and where the purchases were made (they can recover up to $10) and those who simply claim they purchased the product at least once and submit a claim for a $5 coupon instead of cash. Four named plaintiffs in the suits consolidated before the MDL court for pre-trial proceedings and four class members who were deposed will receive…
A U.S. attorney in Maryland has filed a complaint for injunction against a dairy operation and its owner seeking to stop their alleged long-term misuse of antibiotics in animals that were sold for consumption. United States v. Old Carolina Farm, No. __ (D. Md., filed November 3, 2009). According to the complaint, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration and Maryland Department of Agriculture investigations since the mid-1990s showed that drug residues in the tissues of animals the defendants sold exceeded established limits for a number of antibiotics. Contending that consumers of such meats “may experience severe allergic reactions” or develop “antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria,” the complaint alleges that the dairy’s owner ran afoul of the law essentially because he failed and refused to maintain treatment or drug inventory records. The U.S. government seeks permanent injunctive relief to stop the dairy from introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce and from…
U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter (D-New York) has asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review federal efforts to collect data on antibiotic use in animals. In a letter to Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, Slaughter asked for the study because a 2005 GAO report found that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) were not collecting data “on the types and amounts of antibiotics used in different species of food animals or whether the antibiotics were used to promote growth, prevent disease, or treat disease.” Slaughter, who chairs the House Committee on Rules, also introduced a bill earlier this year to restrict the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animals raised for meat, citing claims that animal antibiotic use has made some antibiotics less effective in treating human health problems. Her letter requests that GAO find out…
The American Veterinary Medicine Association (AVMA) has submitted a report to Congress that challenges the 2008 findings of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, which supports legislation (H.R. 1549 and S. 619) seeking to prohibit or limit the use of low-level antibiotics in agriculture. Signed by 20 food producer organizations, an introductory letter states that the Pew Commission and other supporters of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) “offer no new information or data to make their case, but rather echo inaccurate messages.” The signatories have called on the Obama administration to honor its pledge to base its regulatory decisions on “the best available science,” not the opinions of “PhD issue advocates or animal rights activists.” AVMA specifically faults the Pew Commission for failing to “incorporate the findings and suggestions of a significant number of participating academicians.” Focusing on the areas of antimicrobial resistance, the environment…
