Dr. Leigh Rosengren, a Saskatchewan-based Veterinary Epidemiologist says proposed changes to Canada’s Food and Drug Regulations will increase the oversight and tracking of antimicrobials imported into Canada for use in food animals.

The federal government published its Proposed Changes to the Food and Drug Regulations Related to Antimicrobial Resistance July 2.

Dr. Rosengren, a Veterinary Epidemiologist with Rosengren Epidemiology Consulting says the proposed changes focus a lot on what drugs can be brought into Canada for use in animals designated for food.

“One of the main changes is to require veterinary active pharmaceutical ingredients that are imported or sold in Canada to be manufactured in accordance with good manufacturing practices,” she said. “What an active pharmaceutical ingredient is, is what would normally be compounded or made into the drug. They’re tightening up the regulations on who can bring that in and if you do bring those in what has to happen for the fabricating of them, the packaging and labelling of those and the testing of those to make sure they’re safe.”

Dr. Rosengren says alongside with that the proposed changes are to restrict their own use importation of certain unauthorized drugs including those APIs. The government is also working to get more or better information on the amounts, the types of antimicrobials used down to the species level.

“Currently, we have antimicrobial use reporting on the sales volumes but, because many of our products are licensed for multiple species, we don’t have a very good sense of where those antimicrobials are going or where they’re being used,” she said. “So the government is requiring manufacturers and importers who sell veterinary drugs to report on where they’re being sold by animal species.”

Dr. Rosengren says few producers import active pharmaceutical ingredients so the proposed legislative changes will have little impact on the day to day operation of most farms. •

— By Harry Siemens