The use of drugs in food animal production has resulted in benefits throughout the food industry; however, their use has also raised public health safety concerns. The Use of Drugs in Food Animals provides an overview of why and how drugs are used in the major food-producing animal industriesâ€"poultry, dairy, beef, swine, and aquaculture. The volume discusses the prevalence of human pathogens in foods of animal origin. It also addresses the transfer of resistance in animal microbes to human pathogens and the resulting risk of human disease. The committee offers analysis and insight into these areas: Monitoring of drug residues. The book provides a brief overview of how the FDA and USDA monitor drug residues in foods of animal origin and describes quality assurance programs initiated by the poultry, dairy, beef, and swine industries. Antibiotic resistance. The committee reports what is known about this controversial problem and its potential effect on human health. The volume also looks at how drug use may be minimized with new approaches in genetics, nutrition, and animal management.

Veterinary sciences include but exceed the study of domestic and non-domestic non-human species. The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has renewed and expanded the need of “one health” approaches –that is, the study of any biological process that involves interactions within and across species (humans included). Unintentionally but directly, COVID-19 has changed or may change everything – including veterinary sciences. For example, a field poorly developed before 2019 (bat immunology) is now, potentially, at the crossroads that connect infectious diseases affecting all vertebrates. Research associated with COVID-19 has facilitated or may promote the development and convergence of numerous technologies, theories, and methods. They include, although are not limited to (i) geographical information systems (which allow the study of actual factors found in the environment), (ii) cost-benefit oriented techniques, and (iii) data-driven (“top-down”) research designs, which identify questions and discover potential problems.

Antibiotics have revolutionized the treatment of infectious diseases. But their use and misuse have resulted in the development and spread of antibiotic resistance. This is now a significant health problem: each year in the European Union alone, over 25 000 people die from infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antibiotic resistance is also a food safety problem: antibiotic use in food animals -for treatment, disease prevention or growth promotion - allows resistant bacteria and resistance genes to spread from food animals to humans through the food-chain. This publication explores the options for prevention and containment of antibiotic resistance in the food-chain through national coordination and international cooperation, including the regulation and reduction of antibiotic use in food animals, training and capacity building, surveillance of resistance trends and antibiotic usage, promotion of knowledge and research, and advocacy and communication to raise awareness of the issues. This publication is primarily intended for policy-makers and authorities working in the public health, agriculture, food production and veterinary sectors, and offers them ways to take a holistic, intersect oral, multifaceted approach to this growing problem.

The National Strategy for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, published in 2014, sets out a plan for government work to mitigate the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria. Direction on the implementation of this strategy is provided in five-year national action plans, the first covering 2015 to 2020, and the second covering 2020 to 2025. Combating Antimicrobial Resistance and Protecting the Miracle of Modern Medicine evaluates progress made against the national strategy. This report discusses ways to improve detection of resistant infections and estimate the risk to human health from environmental sources of resistance. In addition, the report considers the effect of agricultural practices on human and animal health and animal welfare and ways these practices could be improved, and advises on key drugs and diseases for which animal-specific test breakpoints are needed.

The production of animal feed increasingly relies on the global acquisition of feed material, increasing the risk of chemical and microbiological contaminants being transferred into food-producing animals. Animal feed contamination provides a comprehensive overview of recent research into animal feed contaminants and their negative effects on both animal and human health.Part one focuses on the contamination of feeds and fodder by microorganisms and animal by-products. Analysis of contamination by persistent organic pollutants and toxic metals follows in part two, before the problem of natural toxins is considered in part three. Veterinary medicinal products as contaminants are explored in part four, along with a discussion of the use of antimicrobials in animal feed. Part five goes on to highlight the risk from emerging technologies. Finally, part six explores feed safety and quality management by considering the safe supply and management of animal feed, the process of sampling for contaminant analysis, and the GMP+ feed safety assurance scheme.With its distinguished editor and international team of expert contributors, Animal feed contamination is an indispensable reference work for all those responsible for food safety control in the food and feed industries, as well as a key source for researchers in this area. - Provides a comprehensive review of research into animal feed contaminants and their negative effects on both animal and human health - Examines the contamination of feeds and fodder by microorganisms and animal by-products - Analyses contamination by persistant organic pollutants, toxic metals and natural toxins

The author sets the discovery and use of penicillin in the broader context of social and cultural changes across the world. He examines the drug's contributions to medicine and agriculture, and investigates the global spread of resistant bacteria as antibiotic use continues to rise.