Kathy Simmons, DVM, Chief Veterinarian, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, addressed a joint public meeting of the Food and Drug Administration, United States Department of Agriculture, and Center for Disease Control highlighting antimicrobial use and resistance data collection.

“NCBA believes that a clear strategy for data collection, analysis and reporting must first be established before moving forward with the data collection process in order to provide information that correctly represents actual antimicrobial drug use in food-producing animals,” said Dr. Simmons, adding that antimicrobial use data collection needs to be revised.

NCBA has a long history supporting antimicrobial stewardship that directs responsible antibiotic use in all sectors of the beef cattle industry. This commitment dates back to the first release of the BeefProducer Guidelines for Judicious Use of Antimicrobials in 1987, which is still utilized in an updated form by producers today.

“We do not believe that the reduction in the volume of antimicrobial drugs used in food-producing animals should be used as the sole measurement for the success of a judicious antimicrobial drug use strategy,” said Simmons. Instead, “there must be a way to link antimicrobial drug use metrics with the reason for drug use and animal population parameters rather than simply reporting aggregate quantities for which the only goal is reduction.”

Simmons also addressed privacy concerns, particularly the anonymity of participants security of the information.  As the conversations continues the NCBA will be part of the discussion, working to bring transparency to antibiotic sales data.