The President’s Advisory Committee on Combating Antibiotic-Resistance Bacteria met last week to review a draft report to determine what progress has been made since last year when President Obama issued the “National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria.”

The draft report, “Initial Assessments of the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria,” also recommends the next steps needed to curb antibiotic resistance. The report recognizes the progress made by the Food and Drug Administration with the new veterinary feed directive.

The VFD final rule will bring the use of medically important antibiotics in feed and water under veterinary supervision so that antibiotics are used only when necessary for assuring the animal’s health. The report says that FDA is expected to issue a rule this spring to require reporting of estimates of animal-species-specific sales data.

The report recommends increased funding for the FDA to conduct antibiotic surveillance of the retail meat National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System program, and increased funding for the USDA to implement field activities related to on-farm surveillance activities. The report also recommends that agencies need to establish metrics for determining when antibiotics are being used appropriately on farms. The report now goes to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and to President Obama.