Antibiotic Use in Food Animals: FDA's Current Activities (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
March 28, 2014 |
| Report Number |
IF00017 |
| Report Type |
In Focus |
| Authors |
Sarah A. Lister; Joel L. Greene |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which evaluates human and animal drugs for safety and effectiveness, is concerned that public health may be at risk from certain antibiotic uses in food animals. According to FDA, foods of animal origin may be contaminated with pathogens that cause certain types of foodborne infections, and antibiotic use in animals that produce these foods may render the infections less amenable to treatment, due to antibiotic resistance.
In response, FDA has issued two guidance documents for industry that define judicious use of antibiotics, ask animal drug companies voluntarily to stop labeling antibiotics for production uses, and call for more veterinary oversight. FDA says a voluntary approach is the fastest and most efficient way to tighten control over the use of medically important antibiotics. Regulatory action may require FDA to conduct product-by-product evaluations that could require more time and resources.
Some stakeholders, mainly led by consumer groups, say that use of antibiotics in food animals leads inevitably to drug resistance in foodborne pathogens, and that such use should be curtailed. Other stakeholders, mainly led by industry groups, say that untreatable human infections due to resistance result from misuse of antibiotics in the healthcare system. FDA asserts that concerns about antibiotic-resistant human infections resulting from antibiotic use in food animals are well documented, and FDA generally possesses broad authority to regulate these drugs based on this public health effect.
