Plans in the works for updating labels on existing feed affected by VFD

Poultry producers won’t have to discard existing inventories of feed blended with medically important antibiotics prior to January 2017 to comply with new veterinary feed directive (VFD) regulations.

Richard Sellers, senior vice president of policy and education for the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), said his organization has been working with FDA on a plan enabling the use of existing inventory beyond the January deadline.[i]

Toward that end, AFIA is surveying the industry to help determine how much medicated feed is in inventory, its monetary value and how long it will take to exhaust the supply.

“We’ve gotten good feedback from the FDA,” Sellers said. By providing FDA with its survey findings and by making a reasonable request, AFIA anticipates that FDA will allow existing inventory with VFD medications to be used if labeling on the bags is updated.

Drug sponsors have already created transition labels, which can be used before and after Jan. 1, or stickers to update labeling for feed such as premixes that contain VFD medications. The new labels boldly state the feed requires a VFD and that medications requiring a VFD cannot be used for growth promotion.

Sellers pointed out there are nearly 20 drugs with over 280 uses that will be affected by the new VFD rule. The products have from 1- to 3-year expiration dates and are expensive, and no one wants to have to throw them out, Sellers said in an interview with Poultry Health Today.

Listen to the interview here.

[i] Preparing for the VFD: Challenges at the feed mill. Video interview with Richard Sellers, AFIA. https://zoetispoultry.wpengine.com/preparing-for-the-vfd-challenges-at-the-feed-mill/  Accessed April 26, 2016