USDA spotlights high antibiotic use in pigs, cattle

Two new reports from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) provide a sense of the extent of antibiotic use and stewardship among US livestock producers. The two reports from the USDA's National Animal Health Monitoring System examine how antibiotics were used on beef feedlots and large swine operations in 2016. That was the last year before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) implemented a new policy preventing use of medically important antibiotics for growth promotion in food-producing animals and requiring veterinary oversight for the use of medically important antibiotics. The data from the two reports show that 87.5% of feedlots and 95.5% of swine operations gave cattle and pigs any antibiotics in feed, water, or by injection in 2016. Just over 90% of swine operations gave pigs medically important antibiotics, while 56% of feedlots used medically important antibiotics. "These numbers clearly show that there is a fair amount of antibiotic use in livestock," Karin Hoelzer, PhD, DVM, a senior officer with the Pew Charitable Trusts' antibiotic resistance project, told CIDRAP News. "Having such widespread reliance on antibiotics is concerning." While the numbers aren't necessarily surprising, the two reports are important because they provide much needed data on antibiotic use in livestock production that, up until now, hasn't been available. The FDA issues a yearly report on the sales and distribution of medically important antibiotics for use in food-producing animals, but that report provides no information on how and why those antibiotics are used, or how they were administered. "These reports really give deeper insight into how and why antibiotics are used in US agriculture," Hoelzer said. "They also look at stewardship practices, such as how decisions about whether to treat and how to treat are made, how farmers are accessing veterinarians and veterinary care, and where farmers are getting antibiotics."...MORE