The animal health community, including Phibro, worked with the Food and Drug Administration to further ensure the responsible use of antibiotics in animals, resulting in several changes that took effect Jan. 1, 2017. Now, antibiotics important to human medicine are used only for treatment and prevention of disease in animals – not growth promotion. We also increased veterinarian oversight of agricultural antibiotic use. A veterinary feed directive (VFD) – essentially a prescription from a veterinarian – is now required to treat animals with antibiotics that are also used in human medicine.