More oversight needed in use of medically-important antibiotics in feed animals, according to GAO report

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently conducted a study examining actions the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have taken to manage the use of medically-important antibiotics in food animals.

For its review, GAO examined documents while conducting interviews of key officials and industry stakeholders. The study was organized as more incidents of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections have been reported in livestock and humans, alike.

According to the report, HHS increased veterinary oversight of antibiotics beginning in 2011 and, with the USDA, “made several improvements in collecting data on antibiotic use in food animals and resistance in bacteria.”

The report cited HHS’s recommendation for changes to drug labels as one major improvement. GAO found that major oversight gaps still exist, however, stating that changes to drug labels do not address long-term and open-ended use of antibiotics for disease prevention because some antibiotics do not define duration of use on its labels.

In addition, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not clearly define objectives for closing that oversight gap, which remained inconsistent with federal internal control standards.

To address oversight gaps, GAO recommended that the Secretary of Health and Human Services direct the FDA Commissioner to develop process to establish appropriate durations of use on all labels of medically-important antibiotics used in food animals, along with increasing veterinary oversight of antibiotics administered in routes other than in feed and water.

While the USDA agreed to the report’s recommendations, HHS has neither agreed nor disagreed at the time of the report’s publication.