Law360, New York (January 3, 2014, 3:33 PM EST) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration published its long-awaited final guidance on the use of antibiotics in food animals on Dec. 11, 2013, (Guidance for Industry #213[1]), finalizing some of its earlier preliminary recommendations limiting the use of antibiotics in feed and water to antibiotics considered not medically important for human use;[2] prohibiting the use for growth promotion; and restricting access to antibiotics used in food animals to those prescribed by veterinarians for therapeutic uses. Therapeutic uses include the control, prevention and treatment of disease. Food animal veterinarians, food animal producers and drug and feed manufacturers will have to comply with the FDA's new restrictions on the use of certain antibiotics in food animals, although compliance is currently voluntary. Once the FDA finalizes proposed changes to the Veterinary Feed Directives rule, which governs the use of antibiotics in animal feed, these restrictions will be mandatory....