Antibiotic Resistance: More Information Needed to Oversee Use of Medically Important Drugs in Food Animals, GAO-17-192: Published: Mar 2, 2017. Publicly Released: Mar 16, 2017.

“Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are one of the biggest threats to global health, sickening an estimated 2 million people in the United States each year. There is strong evidence that some resistance in bacteria is caused by antibiotic use in food animals (cattle, poultry, swine). We found gaps in FDA’s oversight of antibiotic use in food animals and USDA’s and HHS’s data collection, among other things. For example, they lack farm-specific data, do not have metrics to assess their actions to manage antibiotics use, and have not conducted on-farm investigations during foodborne illness outbreaks. We made recommendations to address these concerns.”