Advocacy Groups Sue FDA Over Antibiotics in Meat

WASHINGTONA number of consumer advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 25 alleging the agency has failed in its legal responsibility to address overuse of antibiotics in animal feed. The lawsuit has no bearing on the use of antibiotics for treating sick animals.

The complaint, filed by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT), and Public Citizen and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), seeks to force FDA to act on its own safety findings, which would involve withdrawing approval for antibiotic use in animal feed for non-therapeutic uses.

More than a generation has passed since FDA first recognized the potential human health consequences of feeding large quantities of antibiotics to healthy animals," said Peter Lehner, NRDC executive director. Accumulating evidence shows that antibiotics are becoming less effective, while our grocery store meat is increasingly laden with drug-resistant bacteria. The FDA needs to put the American people first by ensuring that antibiotics continue to serve their primary purposesaving human lives by combating disease."

In a separate regulatory petition filed May 25, co-plaintiff CSPI  is urging the agency to require testing of ground meat and poultry products for four antibiotic-resistant strains of SalmonellaSalmonella Heidelberg, Salmonella Newport, Salmonella Hadar and Salmonella Typhimurium. CSPI also wants USDA to declare the Salmonella strains as adulterants" under federal law, making products that contain them illegal to sell.