News

Antibiotic use drops before VFD begins

The US Food and Drug Administration says the use of antibiotics in food animals dropped considerably in 2016 before the Veterinary Feed Directive guidelines were required.  The FDA released a report saying sales and distribution of the drugs were down 10% from 2015 to 2016.

The report says Tetracycline accounted for 70% of sales and remain the most commonly sold antibiotic with more than 5-million kilograms sold, but that is a 15% drop from 2015.   Penicillin accounts for about 10% of the drug use in livestock.

The FDA says for the medicines that were used in 2016, about 43% of them were used in cattle, 37% in swine, 9% in turkeys, and 6% in chickens.  The most common method to administer the drugs was in animal feed.

Even with the drop in antibiotic drug use in 2016, there were still more doses given last year than in 2009.