It’s difficult to summarize what happened on the animal antibiotics front this year. There were lots of pledges, lots of discussions and lots of reports, but not very many actions. Still, we still wanted to recap what happened in the 2015 regarding animal antibiotics. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that antibiotic-resistant…
Comments in on FDA’s Plan to Collect Species-Specific Antibiotics Sales Data
Public health advocates concerned about how antibiotics used on farms impact increasing resistance, have long expressed the need for more on-the-ground data – particularly use by species. In May, the Food and Drug Administration proposed adding estimates of drug sales by animal species — cattle, swine, chickens or turkeys — to the summary of the…
President Declares Federal Policy for ‘Responsible Use’ of Antibiotics in Food Production
According to a memorandum signed by President Obama on Tuesday, it is now the policy of the federal government to encourage responsible use of antibiotics in the production of meat and poultry. The memorandum supports the supply chain for these products by directing federal departments and agencies to create a preference for acquiring them. Within…
FDA Proposes Collecting Animal Antibiotics Sales Data By Species
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to expand animal drug data to include information about species. Each year, the agency publishes a summary of the information animal drug sponsors are required to report every year by the Animal Drug User Fee Act (ADUFA), but the data are only broken down by drug class.…
Gillibrand Proposes Mandatory Recall Authority for USDA
After FRONTLINE’s documentary on Salmonella in poultry aired Tuesday night on PBS, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) officially introduced legislation to give the U.S. Department of Agriculture mandatory recall authority over contaminated meat and poultry. Gillibrand discussed her Meat and Poultry Recall Notification Act with reporters in February, saying that, if passed, the bill would…
Critics Call White House Antibiotics Action Plan a ‘Missed Opportunity’ on Farms
The White House released its National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria on Friday, but some critics say it doesn’t do enough to tackle antibiotic use on farms. “Antibiotic resistance is one of the most pressing public health issues facing the world today. It causes tens of thousands of deaths and millions of illnesses every…
Rep. Slaughter Reintroduces Preservation of Antibiotics Legislation
On Tuesday, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) reintroduced the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA), which would ban non-therapeutic uses of medically important antibiotics in food animal production. “My legislation would save eight critical classes of antibiotics from being routinely fed to healthy animals and would reserve them only for sick humans and sick…
McDonald’s Plans to Phase Out Chicken Fed Medically Important Antibiotics
Fast-food giant McDonald’s announced Wednesday that, within two years, all of the chicken served at its 14,000 U.S. restaurants will come from farms which raised the birds without medically important antibiotics. The move could help limit the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture which contributes to an increase in antibiotic-resistant bugs that sicken humans. “Our customers…
FSIS Would Have Mandatory Recall Authority Under Proposed Bill
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is proposing legislation that would require recalls of meat and poultry contaminated with pathogens. “As it stands now, if foods like ground beef and sliced turkey are found to be unsafe, the U.S. Department of Agriculture lacks the authority to issue a mandatory recall,” Gillibrand said. “As a result, it becomes…
White House Wants to Nearly Double Funding for Antibiotic Resistance Fight
President Obama wants to nearly double — to more than $1.2 billion — federal funding for combating and preventing antibiotic resistance. The administration is expected to release its full 2016 budget proposal next week, but a fact sheet released Tuesday provided a blueprint for investments in fighting antibiotic resistance — an issue it referred to…
2014 in Review: Animal Antibiotics
Food Safety News wrote a lot about antibiotic resistance this year — particularly the debate surrounding the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) plan to phase out the use of certain antibiotics in food animals, introduced in December 2013, and conversations sparked by the 16-month outbreak of multi-drug-resistant Salmonella Heidelberg linked to Foster Farms-brand chicken that…