Health Ministry defines maximum permissible limits of antibiotics in food animals

Health Ministry defines maximum permissible limits of antibiotics in food animals

Antibiotic resistance has become a major public health threat worldwide. Use of antibiotics in food animals is emerging as a major cause of emergence of antibiotic resistance. The WHO has also recently published guidelines recommending farmers and the food industry to stop using antibiotics routinely to promote growth and prevent disease in healthy animals.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has notified amendment to Food Safety & Standards (Contaminants, Toxins & Residues) Regulations, 2011 on 7th November, 2017.

Now called the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulations, 2017, the notification contains maximum permissible limits of various antibiotics in meat and meat products including chicken. Maximum permissible limits of 37 antibiotics and 67 other veterinary drugs are prescribed for chicken.

“(2) No person shall use any of the following antibiotics and other pharmacologically active substances in any unit which processes sea foods including shrimps, prawns or any variety of fish and fishery products, namely. 1. Nitrofurans including- (i) Furaltadone; (ii) Furazolidone; (iii) Nitrofurnatoin; (iv) Nitrofurazone. 2. Chloramphenicol. 3. Sulphamethoxazole. 4. Aristolochia spp and preparations thereof. 5. Chloroform. 6. Chloropromazine. 7. Colchicine. 8. Dapsone. 9. Dimetridazole. 10. Metronidazole. 11. Ronidazole. 12. Ipronidazole and other nitromidazoles. 13. Clenbuterol. 14. Diethylstibestrol. 15. Glycopeptides. 16. Stilbenes and other steroids. 17. Crystal Violet. 18. Malachite Green.”

The tolerance limits of various antibiotics used in human beings and animals, exclusively used in animals and other various veterinary drugs have been specified in the notification.

The draft notification is available on FSSAI website. Objections and suggestions have been invited from all the stakeholders including general public within 30 days of the notification i.e. by 6th December, 2017.

(Source: Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, November 20, 2017)

IMA Policy on Antibiotics

IMA Policy on Antibiotics

At the Antimicrobial Resistance Conference, held in New Delhi yesterday, to discuss the IMA Antibiotic Policy, the following decisions were taken.

• Doctors should write the antibiotic in a box to differentiate it from other drugs in the prescription.
• The role of antibiotics should be discussed in an informed consent.
• When prescribing antibiotics, clear instructions should be given to the patient about no refill of antibiotic prescription without signature of the doctor.
• No antibiotic cover or prophylactic antibiotic should be given without a high degree of clinical suspicion.
• No antibiotics should be prescribed in following conditions:

o    Small bowel diarrhea

o    Fever with cough and cold

o    Dengue

o    Chikungunya

o    Malaria

o    Fever with rash

• Early initiation of antibiotics is the rule in suspected sepsis, bacterial pneumonia, meningitis and confirmed TB.
• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) should make it mandatory for food companies to label all poultry and agriculture products as “Antibiotic-free”.
• IMA will be writing to the Health Ministry to formulate clear guidelines about safer disposal of left over antibiotics.

IMA hails PM taking up the cause of medical profession

IMA hails PM taking up the cause of medical profession

Dr K K Aggarwal PM Modi initiates health campaign and asks people to avoid taking antibiotics without the doctor’s prescription In his monthly address to the people of the nation in ‘Mann Ki Baat’, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi urged people to not take antibiotics without the prescription of a doctor since resorting to such short cuts to get better soon has been giving rise to new problems. He also asked the citizens to take antibiotics for the entire course prescribed by the doctors and not leave it midway as it can potentially lead to antibiotic resistance. He informed the people that the Government is resolute on stopping the menace of antibiotic resistance and that antibiotic medicine strips are now having a red line to warn the people. He suggested that in order to get well soon, consuming any antibiotic that is available easily, without consulting a doctor, is not a wise choice. While explaining the issue of antibiotic resistance, he stated that random and excessive use of antibiotics makes the causative organisms accustomed to the particular drug, and the drug thus loses its efficacy and utility. This practice of impetuous use of antibiotics thus creates newer problems that require years of research to find out solutions for. Additionally, leaving an antibiotic course, prescribed by a doctor, midway, or continuing it for longer than prescribed, both will harm the patient and help the bacteria. The causative organisms are fast undergoing mutations and rendering the once-effective antibiotics, ineffective now, thus adding to the problem of antibiotic resistance. While antibiotic resistance is a global public health problem, the issue nowhere is it as stark as in India. Resistance to fluoroquinolones among invasive Salmonella Typhi isolates in India was 8% in 2008 that rose to 28% in 2014. And antibiotic use itself is the most significant driving force behind this resistance. In the year 2010, India was the world’s largest consumer of antibiotics for human health, with consumption estimated at 12.9 x 109 units (10.7 units per person). It is high time that we start taking our health seriously and understand that the use of antibiotics without prescription is going to do more harm than good.