News

Increase of farm antibiotic sales in 2018

A report from the Food and Drug Administration shows sales of antibiotics for livestock and poultry rose 9% in 2018.

The slight year-over-year increase is still well below levels seen before 2017 when the industry stopped selling antibiotics for growth promotion and veterinarian oversight of the drugs became a requirement. Sales are down 38% from the peak year of 2015 and down 21% from 2009 when data collection began.

Broken down by specie, antibiotic sales were up 17% for swine and 9% for cattle, while sales for poultry dropped 17%.

The report shows tetracyclines, used to treat bacterial infections, accounted for the majority of sales at 66%, up 12% from 2017.

The agency notes that sales data does not necessarily reflect actual antibiotic use but is a valuable indicator of market changes.