Antibiotics to be limited in agriculture

The launch meeting for the National Action Plan for the Reduction of Antimicrobial Use and Antimicrobial Resistance in Livestock Production and Aquaculture, on August 2nd in Hanoi heard that tightening the use of antibiotics in husbandry and aquatic farming has a vital role in developing agricultural production and exports, especially in the context that Vietnam is focusing more on exporting its agro-products.

From August 2nd, the US started checking the quality of all tra fish shipments from Vietnam. If any issues are detected, future shipments will have to go through many tests for antibiotics and pesticides. This is the first time the US has imposed such strict controls on Vietnamese tra fish.

Currently, Vietnam has issued detailed roadmap for tightening control over animal feed containing antibiotics. The use of such products to stimulate growth in animals will be banned from Dec 31st 2017. By 2020, using animal feed with antibiotics for disease prevention will be stopped.