- For years, FDA, USDA, and various industry stakeholders have sought to tackle public health concerns associated with the use of medically important antibiotics to promote growth or feed efficiency in food-producing animals. In the U.S., FDA is working with industry to gradually phase out the use of medically important antimicrobials in food animals for production purposes.
- FDA released a report this month showing that domestic sales and distribution of all antimicrobials destined for food-producing animals were down 10% from 2015 to 2016. For medically important antimicrobials, the decrease was 14%. This is the first time antibiotic sales have declined since such data were first collected in 2009.
- Key findings of the report include:
- Most of the domestic use of medically important antibiotics is in cattle (43 percent) and swine (37 percent), with lower sales in chicken (6 percent) and turkey (9 percent)
- Domestic sales and distribution of medically important antimicrobials accounted for 60% of the domestic sales of all antimicrobials approved for use in food-producing animals. Tetracyclines accounted for 70% of these sales, penicillins for 10%, macrolides for 7%, sulfas for 4%, aminoglycosides for 4%, lincosamides for 2% and cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones each for less than 1%.
- As industry and regulatory bodies around the world continue to tackle public health concerns associated with the use of medically important antibiotics, it is expected that we will continue to see a decline in the sale, distribution and use of medically important antimicrobials in food animals.