19 Dec 2017 Source: Feedinfo News Service

19 December 2017- At the beginning of 2018, new regulations will come into effect in two of Southeast Asia’s most important animal feed markets, Indonesia and Vietnam, banning the use of antibiotics for growth promotion. The two countries are among the world’s top 20 feed producers, each estimated to produce between 18 and 19 MMT of feed according to the latest Alltech global feed survey; therefore, the implications of this move are quite sizeable. Representatives of the veterinary drugs management services of each country shared with Feedinfo the background and details of these transformative policies.

Vietnam
In Vietnam, the prohibition was enacted through Decree no.39/2017/ND-CP, passed on April 4, 2017, on the management of animal and aquatic feed, explains Dr. Le Hue, Deputy Chief of Veterinary Drug Management Division in Vietnam’s Department of Animal Health. This law, which replaces previous regulations on animal feed management in place since 2010, calls for an end to the use of antibiotics for growth promotion in livestock and poultry by the end of this year, while antibiotics for the purpose of disease prevention will be phased out by 2021. It is understood that all use of antibiotics in aquatic feed is being eliminated, and that a maximum of two types of antibiotics can be used in terrestrial animal feed.

This Vietnamese decree also contains other rules aimed at codifying the use of antibiotics in the country and blocking the development of antimicrobial resistance, including: prohibitions on using amounts of antibiotics in ways that would leave residues in animal feed products or promote AMR (i.e. using antibiotics outside of proscribed times or for purposes for which they are not authorized), a mandate that facilities making medicated animal feed be staffed by veterinary officers, and specifications for labelling of veterinary antibiotics requiring instructions for the antibiotic’s administration to be attached, as well as surveillance of the development of resistance to over a dozen different antimicrobials, including chloramphenicol, tetracyclines, cephalosporins and tylosin.

According to Dr. Le, the elimination of antibiotic growth promotion had already been publicized in a circular issued in May of 2016 (circular 06/2016/TT-BNN PTNT), a document which had laid out a limited list of antibiotics that could be used for growth promotion purposes only until the end of 2017. “A ban on the use of antibiotics for growth promotion was promulgated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development more than one year ago, therefore, farmers and companies have already known and had enough time to adapt to this Circular,” she observers. “We encourage farmers to use vaccination and companies to do research and produce probiotic products instead of antibiotic ones.” She also reiterated that veterinary antibiotics would continue to be available for treatment purposes.

Indonesia
In Indonesia, the elimination of antibiotics for growth promotion was part of a decree issued in May known as Permentan N°14/2017 on the classification of animal drugs, although it is understood from industry sources that the policy had been under discussion for years before. Although the new law bans all use of growth promoting antibiotics as of January 1, 2018, the rules will allow certain antibiotics to continue to be used for treatment purposes with a prescription, under the supervision of a veterinarian. Given the country’s concern with the elimination of antibiotics residue from meat, the therapeutic use of antibiotics will be limited to a period of seven days.

According to a spokesperson for Dr. Ni Made Ria Isriyanthi, head of the subdirectorate of veterinary drugs control within the DG of Livestock and Animal Health at the Ministry of Agriculture, the implementation period will see a strengthening of inspections, and the authorities are committed to reaching 100% compliance with the new law by 2019. Since the Permentan was issued, the Ministry has conducted knowledge-sharing activities to increase awareness of responsible antibiotics use with stakeholders including veterinary drug companies, animal feed companies, farmers, and poultry associations. Ultimately, the spokesperson says, the new law will transform Indonesian animal production by increasing biosecurity on the farm and encouraging the replacement of AGPs with eubiotics, enzymes, and other feed additives.

Banning AGPs is one step of a multi-stage effort from the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture to curb AMR, a push which includes the drafting of a National Action Plan alongside other relevant ministries and agencies, the establishment of antimicrobial surveillance efforts and pilot usage surveys, the launch of an awareness campaign to communicate about the responsible use of veterinary antibiotics, and the creation of an Antimicrobial Resistance Control Committee, among other actions.

欲了解更多行业内高薪职位，及为了中国农业及您个人更好的发展，请关注：我们的网站https://aartd.com，微信公众号：AARTD-Beijing，Linkedin公司账号：http://www.linkedIn.com/company-beta/2569539/