Farmers use banned antibiotics to fatten pigs despite regulations

Regulators have found that some farmers continue to use medically important antibiotics to encourage pig growth despite a 2017 ban.

Lisa Held reports for Civilian food.

In short:

• USDA data shows that some pork producers use antibiotics such as chlortetracycline to promote growth, violating FDA regulations.
• Public health advocates argue that many farmers label growth promotion as disease prevention in order to circumvent regulations.
• FDA and pork industry officials are investigating, emphasizing the need for veterinary oversight of antibiotic use.

Key quote:

“This is an industry that can take in thousands of pigs, kill them, package them and ship them in a matter of hours, but they claim they can’t trace the actual drug use. They do amazing things. They just don’t do it to want to do this.”

— Lance Price, founding director of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center.

Why it matters:

Continued misuse of antibiotics in agriculture contributes to the development of antibiotic resistance, killing more than 35,000 Americans annually and threatening the effective treatment of human infections. Read more: Peak Pig: Read our entire series on the fight for the soul of rural America.