Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 3/29/16


The Presidential Advisory Committee on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria this week will review and vote on a report detailing the federal government’s progress — and making recommendations to improve — in its efforts to curb antibiotic resistance.

The draft report is the first review of progress made toward the goals of President Obama’s National Action Plan (NAP) for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, which was issued a year ago.

The 125-page report contains volumes of recommendations to help the Obama administration improve its efforts. Among them is that the Food and Drug Administration, which has implemented guidelines around reducing the use of medically important antibiotics in food-producing animals, get additional funding to finalize a plan for measuring the effectiveness of those rules.

“The FDA has worked to develop metrics, but implementation requires methods to enhance collection of on-farm antibiotic use data which requires additional funding,” the report states.

The report also addresses the monitoring of antibiotic-resistance patterns, as well as antibiotic sales, use, and management practices in the production chain for food animals and retail meat.

Generally, the report recommends increased funding for the FDA to conduct antibiotic surveillance of the retail meat National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) program, and for the USDA to get the necessary funding to implement field activities related to on-farm surveillance activities.

The report states: “Lack of federal funding is hindering on-farm work and constrains implementation of the NAP. Examples include the collection of farm-level surveillance data, which is on hold, and collection of resistance data, which is limited in targets and sample sizes. Timely funding is critical given an expected 12–18¬ month lag from receiving funding to implementation and data collection. USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service and FDA are working with commodity groups towards partnerships to obtain on-farm antibiotic use data, but there is debate among stakeholders about whether and how industry efforts can complement government surveillance. Key areas of debate include harmonization of data transparency and confidentiality concern related to industry-led data collection, as well as appropriate funding mechanisms and adequate incentives.”

The advisory committee’s report, once approved, will go to Sylvia Mathews Burwell, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, and then to President Obama’s desk.

View the full draft report here.

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