A coalition of 65 health, consumer, environmental, farming, and animal welfare organizations filed a formal citizen's petition with the FDA in mid-June 2026, demanding the agency withdraw approval for the routine use of medically important antibiotics in livestock when no disease has been diagnosed.
The petition targets a practice that is common across U.S. beef, pork, and poultry production: administering antibiotics through feed and water to healthy animals to prevent the spread of disease in crowded conditions. The FDA banned antibiotics for growth promotion in livestock in 2017, but it still permits their use for disease prevention in animals that are not sick — the practice this petition targets.
