Medicated feed is an American legal terminology. As of 2019, it was defined in

21 CFR Title 21 is the portion of the Code of Federal Regulations that governs food and drugs within the United States for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Office of National Drug Control Policy ...

§ 558.3.

History and synopsis

The Animal Drug Availability Act 1996 introduced the term of ''new animal drug'', which should be applied in combination with traditional animal feeds such as

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

and

oats The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural). Oats appear to have been domesticated as a secondary crop, as their seed ...

and

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

. The

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

found it expedient to subdivide this term into two categories, according to the withdrawal period necessary to be observed prior to slaughter for animals about to enter the human food chain; and Prior to the enactment, only two categories of animal feed drugs existed:

over-the-counter Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are medicines sold directly to a consumer without a requirement for a prescription from a healthcare professional, as opposed to prescription drugs, which may be supplied only to consumers possessing a valid pres ...

or prescription. The ADAA introduced

Veterinary Feed Directive A Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) is, under the law of the United States, a written authorization allowing animal keepers to use animal feed containing specified antibiotics in accordance with Food and Drug Administration The United States ...

drugs. Medicated feeds are differentiated in § 558.3 from VFD rations, in that a licensed veterinarian is not required to supervise the feed product. Medicated feeds are available over-the-counter from agricultural suppliers. New animal drugs are the functional ingredients for medicated feeds. The distinction between medicated feeds and VFD feeds is somewhat flexible. On 1 January 2017, veterinary oversight was added to a significant number of antibiotic drugs in animal feed, so as to ensure that they are "medically necessary". The VFD label was applied to, among others, chlortetracycline, hygromycin,

penicillin Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of beta-lactam antibiotic, β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' Mold (fungus), moulds, principally ''Penicillium chrysogenum, P. chrysogenum'' and ''Penicillium rubens, P. ru ...

lincomycin Lincomycin is a lincosamide antibiotic that comes from the actinomycete ''Streptomyces lincolnensis''. A related compound, clindamycin, is derived from lincomycin by using thionyl chloride to replace the 7-hydroxy group with a chlorine atom with ...

, oxytetracycline, tylosin, virginiamycin and

neomycin Neomycin, also known as framycetin, is an aminoglycoside antibiotic that displays bactericidal activity against Gram-negative aerobic bacilli and some anaerobic bacilli where resistance has not yet arisen. It is generally not effective against ...

References

{{Authority control Food law Veterinary drugs Veterinary medicine in the United States