Bill introduced in Senate to combat overuse of antibiotics in food-producing animals.

• For years, FDA and various stakeholders have grappled with how best to reduce the use of medically important antibiotics to promote growth or feed efficiency in food-producing animals.  In 2013, FDA asked animal pharmaceutical companies to voluntarily revise the FDA-approved conditions of use on antibiotic labels to remove production indications.
• Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) have reintroduced a bill that would require FDA to withdraw its approval of medically important antibiotics that are at a high risk of abuse in food-producing animals.  The sponsors and supporters of the legislation argue that it addresses gaps in FDA’s 2013 request for voluntary industry participation in the reduction of antibiotic abuse.
• Antibiotic resistance remains a pressing public health concern.  Future actions by the federal government with respect to reducing antibiotic use have the potential to affect multiple sectors of industry, including animal pharmaceutical manufacturers, farmers, food processors, and even ethanol producers (as antibiotics may be used in ethanol production, the by-products of which are fed to food-producing animals).