USA: Improving antibiotic stewardship in food-producing animals
Nearly 20 organizations focused on public health, environmental issues, and food safety collectively dispatched a letter to US legislators. Their primary objective was to advocate for amendments to federal legislation aimed at enhancing the responsible use of veterinary antibiotics.
The missive implores Senate leaders to revise the Animal Drug User Fee Act (ADUFA), pinpointing specific modifications that would compel the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to evaluate and disclose the effectiveness of its efforts in overseeing the application of medically important antibiotics in livestock and poultry. Originally enacted in 2003, the ADUFA necessitates reauthorization every five years and is currently slated to expire on September 30.
These organizations highlight that the FDA's existing five-year antibiotic stewardship strategy, unveiled in 2018, has fallen short in establishing consistent benchmarks for assessing stewardship within the US food-animal production sector from one year to the next. Furthermore, it lacks quantifiable objectives for enhancing stewardship over time. While the FDA initially reported a decrease in the sales of medically significant antibiotics intended for use in cattle, swine, poultry, and turkeys in 2017 (the year following the prohibition of antibiotics for growth promotion), sales have rebounded since then. Critics contend that medically important antibiotics are still excessively employed on US farms and assert that the FDA has the capacity to better monitor and gauge antibiotic usage in meat production.
