The issue of antimicrobial use in food animals

摘要

The issue of antimicrobial use in food animals has been controversial for more than three decades. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first called for several restrictions on antimicrobial use in feed in 1977. That proposal has generated severalstudies and reports over the subsequent years. Definitive answers about the safety of antimicrobial use in animals remains scientifically challenging, but we are continuing to uncover more truths and, more important, have begun updating FDA's regulatoryprocess for evaluating antimicrobial drugs intended for use in food animals. In the United States, FDA is the primary federal agency responsible for ensuring the safety of the food supply. While the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition regulatesthe vast majority of human food, FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) ensures that animal drug products are effective and safe for animals and consumers of edible products from treated animals. CVM is responsible for establishing the safety assessments for the use of antimicrobial drugs in food from animals, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is primarily responsible for testing the meat supply for microbiological contamination and animal drug residues in the food from animals.