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The Bundestag approved last week amendments to the Medicinal Products Act which aims at reducing the use of antibiotics in animal production, with increased restrictions, more control and more transparency.
Both the authorities and the animal keepers will in future be able to cross-check the therapeutic frequency on a farm with the data collected nationwide on therapeutic frequency. The comparison with nationwide figures will clearly demonstrate the urgency of reducing the use of antibiotics on individual farms. The competent authority will be endowed with a number of powers if the farm should exceed the national figures and if it should fail on its own initiative to minimise the use of antibiotics effectively. The way will be paved for recording and processing, in a centralised manner, the data to be reported to the authority on therapeutic frequency in a single official database. An inspection requirement will be introduced for livestock farmers who keep certain food-producing animals for commercial purposes. The exchange of information between authorities will be significantly improved: It will be made compulsory for authorities that monitor establishments, for instance with regard to animal welfare and food hygiene, to pass on, upon request, to the bodies responsible for the monitoring of veterinary drugs any data and findings that suggest there has been an infringement of the medicinal regulations.
Thursday February 28 2013/ BMELV/ Germany.
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