In early January, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a draft guidance that may prohibit specific uses of a class of antibiotics in the major food animal species, which include cattle, swine, chickens and turkeys. The release of the draft guidance has created a stir, as many reports have bluntly stated that the FDA intends to ban the use of a class of drugs known as cephalosporins for use in livestock, but this statement is simply not true. The issue of cephalosporin use in livestock was originally addressed in 2008, but no action was taken at that time.
Believe it or not, the current form of the draft guidance has been developed with the guidance of science and common sense.