U.S. flag An official website of the United States government

On Oct. 1, 2024, the FDA began implementing a reorganization impacting many parts of the agency. We are in the process of updating FDA.gov content to reflect these changes.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration
  1. Home
  2. Animal & Veterinary
  3. Safety & Health
  4. Antimicrobial Resistance
  5. Data on Antimicrobial Use in Animals
  1. Antimicrobial Resistance

Data on Antimicrobial Use in Animals

Antimicrobial use (AMU) in humans, animals and plants is considered the main driver of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). 

Data on AMU in animals reflect important details including what drugs are used, the purpose or indication for use, how they were dosed and administered, patient demographics, and in some cases, treatment outcomes. AMU may be measured based on veterinary prescriptions, treatment records, and/or farm-level usage information. While antimicrobial sales data report on the supply of antimicrobial products for animals, use data reveal how and to what extent these products are being administered to animals, including livestock and companion animals. AMU data provide real-world context beyond what is captured by national sales data. Knowing more about how antimicrobials are being used in animals can inform antimicrobial stewardship efforts such as recommendations for veterinarians on best prescribing practices, and regulatory policies to help slow the development of antimicrobial resistance while ensuring animal health and welfare.

FDA is working toward advancing systematic approaches to capture details on animal AMU. This FDA page discusses the utility of AMU data and the challenges involved with collecting AMU data, as well as past, present and future steps FDA is taking to better understand antimicrobial use in animals.

Monitoring AMU in animals in the United States

FDA collects and reports sales of antimicrobials for food-producing animals and has been publishing these sales data annually since 2009. Antimicrobial sales data refer to the volume of antimicrobial drugs sold or distributed for use in animals, typically captured at the level of manufacturers and distributors. These data provide useful insight into market trends and the availability of antimicrobial products. FDA also reports sales data with biomass adjustments to represent antimicrobial sales data relative to annual variations in food-producing animal biomass in the U.S.

At this time, there is no coordinated, national scale monitoring system, or database repository to collect or track AMU data across veterinary sectors. Several challenges exist to implementation of a national database repository, including the diverse formats of animal health records, lack of standardized metrics, concerns over data confidentiality, and lack of access to private data.

Adding to that complexity, there is limited infrastructure and legal authority for FDA or the US Government to collect information on AMU in animals. Furthermore, FDA does not regulate farming practices or the practice of veterinary medicine. In collaboration with key stakeholders, including other USG agencies, FDA has explored a voluntary and collaborative approach to data collection that relies on support from public and private sectors.

FDA-funded AMU data collection pilot projects

As part of FDA’s goal to support monitoring of AMU data in animals, FDA funded several, five-year cooperative agreements for antimicrobial use data collection: two in food-producing animals (beginning in 2016) and two in companion animals (funded since 2020). These data collection pilots aimed to provide baseline information on antimicrobial use practices in animals and methodologies to optimize long-term strategies for collecting and reporting AMU data. The initial results from the projects were summarized in a series of papers in 2020 describing the first few years of data collection in food producing animals (published in a special issue of the journal Zoonoses and Public Health). 

Building on this initial work, the cooperative agreement projects continued to develop robust methodologies to collect AMU data and generate baseline information on AMU practices in the U.S. through 2021. These methodologies were recently summarized in an article in the Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association. It is also notable that certain data collection efforts in the poultry sector are ongoing, with continued support from industry groups (e.g., the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association). Progress on this ambitious action is further summarized in a report issued in June 2022, “Antimicrobial Use and Resistance in Animal Agriculture in the United States, 2016-2019.”  

Information and resources about FDA funded cooperative agreements to support AMU data collection in animals is described on FDA Funded Grants and Contracts Related to Antimicrobial Use and Resistance in Animals.

Developing a framework for AMU collection 

In the absence of any statutory requirements to collect and report AMU data in animals within the United States, FDA is exploring a voluntary public-private approach to collect and report these data at regular intervals. 

In 2021, under a cooperative agreement, FDA asked the Reagan Udall Foundation to seek input from affected stakeholders about strategies for collecting and sharing data regarding antimicrobial use in food-producing animals. The Foundation then generated a summary of these stakeholder discussions: Summary Report: Exploring the Potential for a Public-Private Partnership to Support the Tracking and Monitoring of Antimicrobial Use in Food-Producing Animals (May 2022).

As part of an additional FDA cooperative agreement, the Foundation further summarized stakeholder input and public comments about AMU data standardization and confidentiality, as well as potential objectives, membership, organizational structure, and financing for a public-private partnership: Establishing a Draft Framework for a Public-Private Partnership to Support the Tracking of Antimicrobial Use in Food-Producing Animals (August 2023).

Current and next steps for AMU data collection

Collecting data to monitor AMU in animals is a key element of the U.S. National Action Plan to Combat Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria (CARB) and a critical part of FDA’s strategy to support antimicrobial stewardship in veterinary settings.

In September 2024, FDA announced three recipients of cooperative agreement funding opportunity for long-term data collection on antimicrobial use in animals. These recipients would be similar to the “data partners” described in the Foundation’s proposed framework. Funds from this program will be supporting projects to:

  1. collect antimicrobial use data from diverse animal sectors, including domestic livestock, poultry, companion animals (dogs, cats, and horses), and minor species (e.g., fish, sheep, goats); and 
  2. contribute to the development of data collection frameworks, including providing data and expertise as resources and a public-private partnership frameworks are established. 

The cooperative agreements provide three recipients with $200,000 for FY24 focused on collecting data from domestic livestock and poultry sectors. In FY25, FDA intends to fund additional projects to collect AMU data from companion animal or minor species. The agency intends to begin accepting proposals in March 2025.

Going forward, the pace of development for key infrastructure (such as database repositories) in the US will depend on available resources and the degree of support and collaboration from involved public and private partners. FDA continues to foster development of coordinated systems to collect and analyze AMU data in animals to improve and expand antimicrobial stewardship recommendations for animal health. 
 

Back to Top