Animal health news and pet food recall information.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) is starting the process of rescinding approval of the use of carbadox, an antibiotic, to treat swine because it may leave trace amounts of a carcinogen in the meat. The agency recently reexamined the safety profile of the drug and concluded that there could … Read more
Four U.S. Senators have written a letter to the FDA to ask that agency to increase tracking of antibiotics used in food animals. They want the agency to propose a rule that improves collection of data on farm antibiotic use and its connection to bacterial resistance. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Kirsten Gillibrand … Read more
>On September 30, 2013, the Food and Drug Administration responded to a Center for Food Safety petition, calling for the immediate withdrawal of the “vast majority of arsenic-containing compounds used as feed additives for chicken, turkeys and hogs.” A lawsuit filed by that agency, along with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Food & … Read more
The FDA has released a Compliance Policy Guide on Salmonella contamination in food for animals. The agency claims that they are “targeting resources more effectively to protect the health of both animals and humans” Because pet food is often handled by consumers, those products are considered contaminated if they contain Salmonella bacteria. The products include … Read more
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced yesterday that Canada and the United States are recognizing each other’s zoning measures during highly contagious foreign animal disease outbreaks. That means that each country will “accept the other’s decisions on establishing, maintaining, and releasing a disease control and eradication zone if an outbreak of a foreign animal disease, such … Read more
Two public interest groups are the latest to add their voices to an international chorus of concern about the feed additive ractopamine. The Center for Food Safety and the Animal Legal Defense Fund have filed a petition with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) calling for the agency to reduce allowable levels of the … Read more
After 35 years of stalling, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may finally be compelled to take action on one of the biggest public health issues of our time: antibiotic resistant bacteria or, superbugs. In a ruling last week, the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, told the FDA that it’s time … Read more
Animal Health was the topic of a June 22 event on Capitol Hill called “From Fido to Food Safety: Roles, Responsibilities and Realities Veterinarians Face in Protecting Public Health,” that was hosted by the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Animal Health Institute. During his keynote address, USDA Chief Veterinary Officer John Clifford, stated that zoonotic diseases, … Read more