FDA seeks data on ag antibiotic use

28-Mar-2016 - Last updated on 29-Mar-2016 at 07:26 GMT

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has put out a call for grants to collect more information on how antibiotics are used in animal production.

The grant application is set to help fund both work to develop a method to better collect data about how, when and why antibiotics are used in animal production and also to start the data collection, said an FDA spokesperson.

“Applicants should be able to produce an annual summary of the data collected,” she told us. “FDA is looking for applicants that foster public-private partnerships/collaboration, leverage existing data systems and minimize burden and disruption to animal producers and incorporate strategies for protecting farm/producer identity and other confidential information.”

The work is intended to support guidance 213, which asked animal drug sponsors to remove production or growth promotion as approved uses of medicated feeds that included medically-important antibiotics and brought other uses under veterinary oversight, said officials. “Data from multiple sources are needed to provide a comprehensive and science-based picture of antimicrobial drug use and resistance in animal agriculture,” they added.

For the project they are hoping to see multiple approaches for collecting the data, the spokesperson said. “For example, data obtained from existing on-farm recordkeeping systems or data obtained from surveys of animal producers,” she added.

Grant details and design

The grant or funding opportunity announcement (FOA) application is open to academic institutions, nonprofits, governmental entities at the state, county or local levels, and other groups including school districts, housing authorities, community or faith-based organizations and regional organization, said officials. Non-domestic institutions or non-US components of US organizations are not eligible to apply.

The application period will run through May 24, said officials. Letters of intent are not necessary, but are encouraged, and are due by April 8.

The process is intended to provide more information to support the National Action Plan for combatting antibiotic-resistant bacteria and improve the monitoring of antibiotic usage in food-producing animals, they said. And, provide details on how quickly changes are being adopted; gauge the success of the stewardship plan; and assess patterns between use and resistance.

Up to two groups will be selected for the grants, and a total of $600,000 has been set aside to fund the grants, with not more than $300,000 going to one group, they said.

The overall project is designed to support both the development of a method to collect information regarding antibiotic use in agricultural animal production and actually collect the data, the spokesperson said.

The FDA is seeking to use it to gather 2016 data on the specifics of antimicrobial drug use in major food producing animals including cattle, pigs chicken and turkeys, she said. This would include information like the name of the product, how much was given and for how long, the quantity and extent of the use and what the intended goal of the treatment was.

In addition, the data collection system would need to be put together in such a way to allow for it to be used to collect and report on this data every year, she said. “FDA is looking for applicants that incorporate strategies for protecting farm/producer identity and other confidential information,” she added.