New Regulations to Curb Antibiotic Usage
In October 2024, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) introduced the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins, and Residues) First Amendment Regulations, 2024. Effective from April 1, 2025, the amendment prohibits the use of antibiotics at any stage in producing milk, meat, poultry, eggs, and aquaculture. This expands the earlier rule, which restricted antibiotic use only during processing.
Prohibited Antibiotics and Antibiotic Classes
The amendment bans three antibiotic classes—glycopeptides, nitrofurans, and nitroimidazoles—and five antibiotics, including carbadox, chloramphenicol, colistin, streptomycin, and sulphamethoxazole. This follows earlier sector-specific restrictions, marking a significant step in regulating antibiotic use across all food animal production.
Revised Tolerance Limits and Gaps
The amendment revises tolerance limits for six new antibiotics, including amoxicillin and gentamicin, raising the total monitored to 27. However, tolerance limits remain unchanged except for cefphacetrile and trimethoprim in milk. Despite progress, regulatory gaps persist for critically important antimicrobials (CIAs) and highest-priority CIAs (HPCIAs), like cefquinome and enrofloxacin, which require stricter monitoring and potential phase-outs.
Honey Production Standards Updated
The new regulations explicitly prohibit antibiotics in honey production and set residue limits for nitrofurans, sulphonamides, and nine antibiotics. Maximum residue limits (MRPLs) for most antibiotics have doubled from 5 µg/kg to 10 µg/kg, raising concerns about leniency despite technological advances in detection.
Need for Robust Enforcement
To ensure effective implementation, FSSAI must establish stringent testing, inspection, and enforcement mechanisms. Concerns about cross-resistance and misuse underline the need for phasing out critically important antibiotics to protect human health.
