Swine industry issues were all the rage during the recent 2015 World Pork Expo and the hottest of those issues was antibiotics. As host of the event, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), had their staff on hand to help inform producers and consumers. I spoke with Dr. Liz Wagstrom, Chief Veterinarian, NPPC, and she said the topic of antibiotics was a really fast moving issue.

“Over the last four or five years, the FDA has been working on strategies to remove all growth promotion uses in production uses of antibiotics that are in classes used in human medicine. Along with that the therapeutic uses, which are to control, prevent and treat diseases need to be under veterinary oversight.”

This change in federal guidelines will require many regulation modifications and a lot of label changes. Dr. Wagstrom continued by adding. “By the end of next year I hope that a lot of those changes are underway and producers will no longer be able to use antibiotics that are important to human health to help promote growth in animals.”

Dr. Wagstrom and NPPC encourage producers to sit down with their vets and go through your current uses of antimicrobials, re-evaluate them and create a better understanding of what you will need to change. She also reminded us that the National Pork Board is changing the Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) Plus guidelines so it will also reflect these changes.

Listen to my complete interview with Dr. Wagstrom here: Interview with Dr. Liz Wagstrom, NPPC

Find photos from the event here: 2015 World Pork Expo Photo Album