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The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has strengthened antibiotic residue regulations for meat, milk, poultry, eggs, and aquaculture, as reported by the Economic Times. This update lowers the allowable levels of antibiotic residues and places additional drugs under the food safety authority’s scrutiny. The move addresses the growing threat of 'superbugs'—bacteria and fungi that have become resistant to antibiotics and other medications because of widespread drug overuse.
This poses a significant health risk, especially since India has one of the highest rates of bacterial and fungal resistance to antimicrobial treatments, according to the report.
Microbes responsible for infections such as urinary tract infections (UTIs), bloodstream infections, pneumonia, and typhoid have increasingly developed resistance to widely used antibiotics, complicating treatment efforts, as highlighted in an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) report. The updated regulations will be enforced starting April 1, 2025, replacing residue limits that have been in place since 2011.
"If enforced strictly, the regulations will ensure safer food products for consumers by setting stricter residue and contaminant limits across a variety of food items and help in dealing with antimicrobial resistance," the report quoted George Cheriyan, working president of Consumers Protection Association (CPA), as saying.
In addition, FSSAI has banned the use of antibiotics in honey production and revised the permissible levels of chemicals like ochratoxin A and deoxynivalenol in wheat, wheat bran, barley, rye, and coffee, according to the report.
