Food Safety

Infectious diseases are the third leading cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease and cancer, and antibiotics are often necessary in their treatment. This report examines (1) how antibiotics are used in agriculture and the implications of that use for human health, (2) the federal roles and responsibilities for overseeing the use of antibiotics in agriculture, and (3) the issues surrounding the debate over whether to further regulate or restrict the use of antibiotics in agriculture. GAO found that antibiotics are used in agriculture to treat and prevent diseases in animals and in food plants and as a feed additive to improve the growth rate in animals. Several federal agencies have responsibilities regarding the use of antibiotics in agriculture. Approving antibiotics and setting allowable levels for antibiotic residues in food products are determined by the Food and Drug and Administration for animals and the Environmental Protection Agency for food plants. The debate over whether to further regulate or restrict the use of antibiotics in animals and plants centers around the risk their use may pose to human health relative to their benefits to agriculture.

GAO noted that: (1) antibiotics are used in agriculture to treat and prevent diseases in animals and in food plants and as a feed additive to improve the growth rate in animals; (2) data are not available on the quantities of specific antibiotics used in agriculture and the purposes for which they are used; (3) research has linked the use of antibiotics in agriculture to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of disease-causing bacteria; (4) although the ill effects of these foodborne pathogens are generally mild to moderate, each year several thousand persons have severe illnesses resulting in hundreds of deaths; (5) in addition to the direct transfer of antibiotic-resistant organisms through animal products, some research suggests that the use of antibiotics in food animals may reduce the effectiveness of related antibiotics when used to treat humans; (6) approving antibiotics and setting allowable levels for antibiotic residues in food products is determined by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for animals and the Environmental Protection Agency for food plants; (7) testing for antibiotic levels in foods is performed by the Food Safety and Inspection Service for meat and poultry and by FDA for eggs, milk, and food plants; (8) monitoring the development of resistance to antibiotics in humans is conducted under a program run jointly by the Department of Agriculture (USDA), FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; (9) the debate over whether to further regulate or restrict the use of antibiotics in animals and plants centers around the risk their use may pose to human health relative to their benefits to agriculture; (10) this concern has prompted several European countries to ban the use in animal feed of four antibiotics that are considered very important in treating humans; (11) beef, pork, and poultry producers and pharmaceutical manufacturers believe agricultural use is only one potential contributor to antibiotic resistance in humans; they claim that research does not warrant restricting antibiotic use in agriculture; (12) USDA believes that more research is needed before decisions are made regarding the further regulation or restriction of antibiotic use in food animals; (13) the Department of Health and Human Services believes that based on the scientific evidence, steps are needed now, not at some time in the future, to decrease such use; and (14) FDA's recently proposed framework for evaluating the safety of antibiotics for use in food-producing animals does not include specific timeframes for reevaluating approved antibiotics.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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