Countdown to the New Feed Directive- What Do We Need to Know?

Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) ushers in a new era of transparency. The federal Veterinary Feed Directive means the days of no records and verbal treatment protocol are gone. Now, as we move into the VFD, a veterinarian is going to have to make a FDA accessible record of what drug is authorized to be used for treatment. In follow-up, the FDA may go to any site that a VFD copy is at and investigate how it was used.

The use of medically important antimicrobial drugs in food production animals will be limited to those uses that are considered necessary for the health of the animals. That means not for growth promotion. Use of medically important antibiotics in food animals will be under the guidance of a veterinarian. The veterinarian will be authorizing those uses, in feed and water.

As of December 2016, a veterinarian will have to authorize any antibiotic use in feed except for the ionophores (Rumensin, Bovatec, Catalyst), bambermycins (Gainpro), bacitracin (BMD, Baciferm), and tiamulin (Denegard), used in swine and Mecadox. All other antibiotics used in the feed are classified as “medically important” (based off of importance in human medicine) and will require a Veterinary Feed Directive which requires knowledge of the client’s operation.

A VFD will be required for any type of medicated feed containing a medically important antibiotic, including medicated milk replacer. All water antibiotics will require a prescription, even for label uses. A prescription is different than a VFD; prescriptions can only be filled by someone that is authorized by the state to dispense that drug on behalf of an order from a licensed vet.

Here are three things you can do now to start getting prepared:

• Educate your customers, encourage them to form a good relationship with their vet. The veterinarian will need to know and understand their operation. Hold a meeting and invite local veterinarians to answer any of your customer’s questions.
• Register with your supplier and with the Center for Veterinary Medicine. Stutsman’s will be sending out these forms to you in the upcoming months.
• When your customer provides you with a VFD from his Vet for you to manufacture a medicated feed, you will need to keep this documentation along with documents on the feed manufactured and the amount of drug used. This documentation will need to be kept on file for a minimum of two years; start thinking on how you will retain this information.

Have any more questions? Chat with our Feed Ingredients division: 319.679.2281