Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 4/25/17
 

Next month USDA will begin a four-month study of how antimicrobials are used on U.S. swine operations.

The agency’s National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS), along with the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), is conducting a new data collection and reporting effort that will focus on antimicrobial use and stewardship practices on swine nursery and grower-finisher facilities with a capacity of at least 1,000 head. 

The study, part of the USDA Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan released in 2015, will gather information on antimicrobial-use practices in 2016 before FDA’s implementation of policies that eliminated the use of medically important antimicrobials for growth promotion purposes in food-producing animals and required veterinary oversight of such antimicrobials in animal feed or water.

Goals of the study are as follows:
• Describe antimicrobial-use practices in feed and water on production sites with a capacity of at least 1,000 weaned market pigs. 
• Estimate the percentage of production sites using and the percentage of weaned market pigs receiving specific antimicrobials in feed and/or water by reasons for use.
• Provide baseline data on antimicrobial-use practices in place before implementation of FDA policy changes. This baseline can be used for evaluating trends over time.
• Describe antimicrobial stewardship practices on production sites with weaned market pigs.

The initiative will apply to operations in 13 states including Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Starting in May, swine operators in those states will be contacted by NASS and asked about their interest in participating in the study. In July, those who agreed to participate will be contacted by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to schedule an in-person interview that will be conducted by an APHIS veterinarian. Data collection will end in August.
No biological testing will be performed, officials noted.

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