Groups sue FDA over use of antibiotics in animal feed

A suit filed by a coalition of concerned health and consumer organisations alleges that the US Food and Drug Administration has failed to meet its legal responsibility to address the mounting health threat posed by overuse of antibiotics in animal feed.

The lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT), Public Citizen, and Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) was spurred by growing evidence that the spread of bacteria immune to antibiotics around the world has clear links to the overuse of antibiotics in the food industry. Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little, The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine and the International Milling Directory from Perendale Publishers

Antibiotic misuse in China underestimated

Antibiotics added to the feed of livestock to increase productivity are not just limited to clenbuterol, and authorities are largely blind to such adulteration, according to an industry insider. A scandal uncovered last month involved pork produced by Shuanghui Group, China's largest meat producer, which was tainted with clenbuterol, which had been added to pig feed.

"In 2006, of 210,000 tons of antibiotics produced in China, 97,000 tons were directly used in livestock feed," said professor Xiao Yonghong, head of the National Antimicrobial Resistant Investigation Net under the Ministry of Health. Xiao said that the misuse of antibiotics can be disastrously detrimental to a wide range of people. Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine and International Milling Directory from Perendale Publishers