Data on sales of antibiotics, reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by pharmaceutical companies, currently represents the main source of information for monitoring animal antibiotic use in the United States. Recently, FDA proposed a method for adjusting that sales data to better understand how producers use antibiotics with particular species of food-producing animals, and how that use may be changing. CFA submitted joint comments with members of the Keep Antibiotic Working Coalition, which express support for the proposal generally and recommend ways that FDA can make its analysis more transparent. CFA also submitted the following comments separately to emphasize the unique role that FDA plays in protecting consumers from antibiotic resistant infections, and to urge the agency to adopt more aggressive controls on animal antibiotic use, in part to level the playing field for companies that are already phasing out reliance on these drugs.

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