Final guidance issued on efforts to curb antibiotic use in meat animal production

In an effort to limit the further development of antibiotic resistant bacteria, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is initiating a plan to phase out the use of what it terms “medically important antimicrobials” in food production animals to enhance growth and improve feed efficiency. In a final guidance issued Dec. 11, the FDA laid out a plan for animal pharmaceutical companies to voluntarily revise the FDA-approved use conditions on the labels of products to remove such production indications as “growth promoting,” etc. The plan also calls for changing the current over-the-counter status to bring the remaining appropriate therapeutic uses under veterinary oversight and requiring a prescription for use. Read More