Food Safety News reports that a group of senators wrote to U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg on Monday to ask for more information regarding the agency’s efforts to curb what they see as the overuse of antibiotics in food animal production.

The senators claimed that Guidance 213 and the proposed rule on Veterinary Feed Directives (VFDs) are “important first steps” but said they “remain concerned that they may not be sufficient.”

They indicated that they did not believe veterinary oversight alone would curb what they viewed as problems related to a lack of strict definitions regarding how antibiotics can be used throughout an animal’s life.

Food Safety News reports:

“The senators asked FDA to respond to these specific questions by Sept. 8, 2014:

·         How do you intend to determine whether the non-judicious use of antibiotics in food animal production materially declines as a consequence of guidance documents #209 and #213, or simply continues under disease prevention or containment labels?

·         If no change in overall usage is observed, what steps will the FDA take to address the public health threat of antibiotic overuse in food animal production?

·         What actions does the FDA plan to take to make sure that approved labeling indications do not pose the same risks of fostering resistance as the production uses that are being voluntarily phased out in response to guidance documents #209 and #213?

·         What is your plan for completing inspections of facilities to ensure proper collection and enforcement of VFDs? What, if any, additional resources or authorities are needed?

·         How do you plan to collect and compile data from the VFDs to better track how specific antibiotics are being used in different types of animals?”

Read more at the Food Safety News website here.