Overview
- FDA data show a 15.8% year-over-year rise in antibiotics sold for livestock in 2024, ending the post-2017 plateau that followed a 43% drop from 2015 to 2017.
- Sales climbed across species, including increases for chicken (79%), turkeys (25%), cattle (16%), and pigs (13%), even as cattle and turkey numbers fell and other herds grew by less than 1%.
- Medically important tetracyclines dominated use, representing 69% of such drugs given to livestock and rising 20% from 2023, up from a 66% share the prior year.
- Public-health experts say the jump likely reflects routine or preventive dosing rather than unusual bacterial outbreaks, while HHS pointed to 2024 animal health challenges that were largely viral.
- Watchdogs urge the FDA to set enforceable reduction targets, ban preventive use, tighten duration limits, and strengthen label oversight after USDA found antibiotic residues in 20% of beef marketed as antibiotic-free.