Response to Comment on 'Feather Meal: A Previously Unrecognized Route for Reentry into the Food Supply of Multiple Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs)'

摘要

We welcome the continuing discussion of our study on pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in feather meal, and are encouraged by interest from the avian veterinarian community. In acknowledging the major finding of our study that feather meal does contain antimicrobial residues, Dr. Kelly suggests that the reintroduction pathway shown in Figure 1 may not apply because the detected levels of fluoroquinolones are too low to select for drug-resistant Campylobacter spp. in poultry. However, the pathway for drug deposition in feather meal we show simply provides an overview of the mechanism of drug recycling in poultry production without elaborating on the magnitude of animal body burdens or antimicrobial resistance outcomes that may result. Given the industry's acknowledged practice of supplementing poultry feed with feather meal, the pathway thus is scientifically correct as stated.