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NPPC: Pork is safe to eat amid FDA review

Top StoryThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken the first step for the potential removal of approval of the drug Carbadox, used in pork production. Dr. Liz Wagstrom, chief veterinarian with the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), says the drug’s maker, Phibro, has agreed to that first step.

Wagstrom tells Brownfield Ag News, “The FDA, it’s important to note, is saying that people should NOT change their consumption habits, that pork is SAFE to eat. They shouldn’t worry about eating pork. And, for producers it’s important for them to know that this is the first step of a process and during the time the process is going on Carbadox will be legal for producers to use.”

Wagstrom tells Brownfield that Carbadox is an important antibiotic used in pig production, “The nice thing about Carbadox that has been an important attribute of it is that the FDA does not consider it medically important to human medicine. So, antibiotic resistance associated with Carbadox has not been a human health issue.” She says Carbadox is used to treat salmonella and other diseases in young pigs. It was approved in the 1970s.

Wagstrom says the FDA is looking at the potential for a “very slight” increased risk of cancer from consumption of pork liver over a person’s lifetime. If consumers want to avoid pork liver, she says, they can check the package ingredients of pork sausages such as liverwurst.

AUDIO:  Interview with Dr. Liz Wagstrom

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