Responsible Food
Being truly committed to producing safe, wholesome food requires an eye on the future
In this issue, Vet-Advantage tackles the multifaceted challenge of violative residues in our meat and milk supply. Until there are zero residues, there is still progress to be made – and it will take everyone’s help to meet that lofty goal. While the agricultural industry has done a lot of good work, we should both acknowledge our successes and recognize where we fall short.
The Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) outlines steps to prevent residues in its “Drug Use Guidelines for Bovine Practice.” As you read through these simple solutions below, there are several areas where distributor sales representatives (DSRs) can partner with DVMs and producers:
- Understand drugs and their labels including production class, dose, duration, route and frequency of administration and withdrawal times
- Verify their client and operation’s personnel also understand the prescribing information
- Identify and, when indicated, segregate treated animals from non-treated animals
- Record treatments, the person administering, the treatment date, diagnosis, treatment given, dosage, route of administration, withdrawal date(s) and animal identification
- Keep records for a minimum of two years
Depending on the relationship, a DSR may be able to assist in one, or all, of the above guidelines. These simple acts can help secure consumer trust and ensure a safe, wholesome food supply for all of us. Not bad for a day’s work!
For more information, visit the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD) at http://farad.org/
