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Any feed product that contains animal drugs is a medicated feed. There are various types of Over-The-Counter (OTC) drugs; Category I and II drugs; and Type A, B, and C products. Congress recently established a new class of feed drugs, Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) drugs.
Why VFD?
VFD drugs offer an alternative to prescription status, allowing veterinarian supervision of these types of drugs while enabling the feed industry to maintain current good manufacturing practices with minimal disruption to the feed distribution.
VFD Approval
As in the past, all animal drugs must be approved by the FDA. The determination of whether a product will be approved as a VFD drug or as an OTC drug is made by the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM). CVM states all antimicrobials for therapeutic use in feed will be approved as VFD drugs.
The VFD Process
A veterinarian, through a professional veterinarian-client-patient relationship, examines and diagnoses animal conditions and determines whether a condition warrants administration of a VFD drug. If so, the veterinarian will issue a signed Veterinary Feed Directive on a preprinted multi-part form. The veterinarian provides the form to the producer who, in turn, orders the VFD feed from his/her feed supplier. A VFD feed may not be distributed to a producer without a signed VFD form.
VFD Feed Manufacturing and Distribution
Licensed feed manufacturers and distributors that ship a VFD feed to a downstream distributor or retailer for inventory must receive and retain a copy of a written acknowledgment, stating that the VFD feed will be further distributed only in accordance with FDA requirements.
Record Keeping
The veterinarian who issues a VFD, the producer and the person or company supplying the VFD feed must retain copies of the signed VFD form for a minimum of two years.
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= AVMA/SAVMA Members Only
