US Decides to Restrict Farm Antimicrobial Use

This week, the US’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made a final decision on the Veterinary Feed Directive, restricting the use of medically-important antimicrobial drugs in food-producing animals and bringing them under greater veterinary supervision.

The rule will halt the use of antimicrobials purely for production purposes, for example to enhance growth or improve feed efficiency.

Antimicrobials will now only be used for prevention, control or treatment of a specifically identified disease, which should help to reduce the development of dangerous antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.

According to the US' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 2 million people in the US become infected annually with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. At least 23,000 people die each year as a result of these infections – read more.

The new rule will not be fully brought in until December 2016, but US drugs companies and producers are already coming on board to reduce their use of these important antimicrobials.

The latest poultry business to announce their commitment to curbing their use of medically-important antimicrobials is Foster Farms. This week they announced two new chicken products raised without any antibiotics – read more.

Avian Flu Update

In avian flu news, the latest confirmed outbreaks in the US took the number of birds affected to above 45 million. Further states have decided to cancel shows of birds at fairs to prevent the spread of the disease.

Other bird flu outbreaks announced this week by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) were in Ghana, Taiwan and Cote d’Ivoire.

Analysts from Rabobank said that avian flu has had a big impact on international markets, with prices expected to remain under pressure for the rest of 2015 – read more.

Keep up to date with avian flu developments by reading our dedicated page here.

~ Alice