2017 May Board Book

eview airy

California

Volume 21 Issue 5

May 2017

Antibiotic Use in Livestock New California Law Effective: January 1, 2018

The use of antibiotics in livestock to treat, control and prevent disease is an invaluable tool that allows producers and veterinarians the opportunity to improve general animal health and well-being, thus providing a safe and quality product to consumers. There is growing concern that antibiotic use in livestock is contributing to the development of antibiotic resistance in people. While the evidence to support or deny this association is lacking, antibiotic resistance is a real and natural event that threatens the ability of a limited arsenal of antibiotic options to work properly against disease. The intent of the new California law is to preserve the efficacy and ensure availability of antibiotics for use in livestock health management. Effective January 1, 2018, over the counter injectable and all other medically important antibiotics must be administered with a prescription or veterinary feed directive (VFD) ordered by a licensed veterinarian through a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship (VCPR).

The CDFA Antimicrobial Use & Stewardship (AUS) program is working with subject matter experts to provide voluntary antibiotic stewardship guidelines and best management practices that are practical and financially feasible. The program will assist producers and veterinarians in minimizing the use of medically important antibiotics and recommend scientifically validated alternatives to antibiotics. The law requires that the CDFA gather information on sales, usage, and bacterial resistance of medically important antibiotics as well as livestock management practices from willing participants. Many current reports use the tonnage of antibiotics sold to suggest antibiotic use in livestock is abundant or inappropriate. This interpretation of data is erroneous as it does not reflect the purpose of use (production efficiency vs disease treatment, control or prevention), the weight of the animal, or the effective antibiotic regimen (dose, frequency and duration). The California Animal Health Monitoring System will be conducting voluntary and anonymous surveys to inform antibiotic stewardship guidance and give California producers an opportunity to showcase current and future success in utilizing antibiotic stewardship practices. If you receive a survey in the mail from CDFA-AUS, UC Davis, or USDA- NAHMS, please seriously consider representing California agriculture and participate. All information gathered will be held confidential per the statutory provisions of the law, including from FOIA and PRA requests.

For additional information, please visit our website: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/AUS

Please email questions to: CDFA_AUS@cdfa.ca.gov