Veterinary Feed Directive Educational Outreach to California Veterinarians

CVMA members receive exclusive discounted pricing for GlobalVetLink (GVL), which includes electronic veterinary feed directives.

AVeterinary Feed Directive (VFD) is a document written by a licensed veterinarian, within the context of a valid veterinarian-clientpatient relationship (VCPR), that is submitted to a feed manufacturer or distributor to provide specific instructions about the addition of one or more approved drugs to animal feed under veterinary supervision. Essential information to be entered on a VFD form includes veterinarian and client addresses, the species and production class of animals, the approximate number of animals that will be fed the medicated feed, the drug dose and duration of treatment, and indications for treatment, as well as withdrawal times to prevent antimicrobial residues. Incomplete VFD forms, or forms that include errors, may result in invalidation of that VFD and an inability for the medicated feed order to be filled.

The Antimicrobial Use and Stewardship (AUS) program within the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) helps ensure that the rules surrounding medically important antimicrobial drugs—including those concerning prescription drugs and VFD feed use and production in California—are followed. The Inspection Services (IS) team of CDFA AUS performs outreach to livestock feed producers and distributors throughout the state. Beginning in July 2021, IS will be working with California-based feed producers to ensure that the VFDs received by feed manufacturers and distributors are completed correctly according to federal regulations (CFR Part 558). This outreach will help increase compliance with FDA regulations so that medicated feed orders can be filled accurately and in a timely manner.

Concurrently, the Stewardship team of CDFA AUS is focused on providing educational outreach to veterinarians in California who have written incomplete or incorrect VFDs and will share strategies to help veterinarians avoid future VFD errors. Starting in the summer of 2021 and continuing into the fall months, directed outreach will be voluntarily offered to veterinarians who have documented errors on VFDs that were written in 2019 and 2020. Contact with veterinarians will be made through confidential telephone and video conferencing, enabling AUS to provide specific solutions to VFD errors on a case-by-case basis.

As familiarity with writing VFDs increases, it is expected that the number of VFDs that contain errors will decrease. CDFA AUS will continue to serve as an educational resource for veterinarians who have questions about VFD documents in future years.

AUS has joined in a public-private partnership with the Veterinary Information Network (VIN) to produce a free online tool for veterinary use in writing VFDs. This publicly available online calculator is designed to assist veterinarians with accurately generating information to be used when filling out VFDs for all types of livestock. Access to this tool—for both nonmembers and members of VIN—is available at the following link: vin.com/vfd.

Additional information about VFDs can be found at the following websites: cdfa. ca.gov/is/ffldrs/VeterinaryFeedDirective. html and cdfa.ca.gov/AHFSS/AUS/.

For more information, or if you would like to specifically request educational outreach regarding VFDs, please contact CDFA AUS at cdfa_aus@cdfa.ca.gov or 916.576.0300.

CVMA Member Bene t, GVL, Simpli es Veterinary Feed Directive Compliance

GlobalVetLINK (GVL) is a web-based animal health solution that provides intuitive online certification which enables users to quickly and accurately create professional health records. CVMA members receive exclusive discount pricing.

Use GVL to create and manage electronic veterinary forms and streamline communication and animal treatment. This simplifies your compliance and meets two-year record retention requirements. GVL enables you to:

 Create compliant Electronic Veterinary Feed Directives (VFDs) that may be sent directly to feed distributors or to clients

 Create and immediately submit electronic Certificates of Veterinary Inspection (CVIs)/health certificates to state animal health officials and provide animal owners with online access to their documents

 Manage electronic veterinary prescriptions in a secure online account, ensuring accuracy and compliance of approved labels and data retention requirements

 Create Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) “Coggins” test certificates with real time transmission to labs

 Create and submit electronic Equine Extended Certificates of Veterinary Inspection (EECVIs) certificates to state animal health officials and provide owners with online access to retrieve their travel permits 24/7. EECVIs may last up to six months and may be submitted electronically to any participating state

 Manage data with searchable account that maintains all records and information

 Rapidly collect and aggregate diagnostic results from multiple labs, enabling faster reaction time

 Create a Pet TravelPass that helps take the guesswork out of domestic and international pet travel and provides the needed documentation.

Timeline of Regulation of Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs (MIADs) in Food-Producing Animals in California

2015 – California

Senate Bill 27 (Hill, SB 27) is passed, resulting in increased restrictions of MIADs in foodproducing animals, starting in 2017. The antimicrobial use and stewardship (AUS) branch of CDFA is established.

2017 – Implementation of SB 27 begins in California.

2018 – Similar federal legislation to regulate the use of MIADs in animal feed is adopted and is enforced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), specifically CFR Part 558.

A wide variety of livestock species are covered by VFD requirements, including major species like dairy and beef cattle, swine, chickens, and turkeys, and minor species including sheep and goats.

For more information, visit globalvetlink.com/cvma/.

Dr. Kenneth Pawlowksi Appointed to AVMA Council Position

Each year, the CVMA sends out a notice of open vacancies on the American Veterinary Medical Association’s councils and committees and encourages members to apply for those voluntary positions. Thank you to all who applied this year!

The CVMA extends its congratulations to Dr. Kenneth Pawlowski, who was appointed to the AVMA’s Council on Biologic and Therapeutic Agents (COBTA) at the AVMA House of Delegates meeting in July. In addition to his current status as President of the Sacramento Valley Veterinary Medical Association, Dr. Pawlowski is a Past President of the CVMA and was previously Chair of the AVMA’s Political Action Committee. As a member of COBTA, Dr. Pawlowski will advise the AVMA Board of Directors in the efficacy and proper use of biologic and therapeutic agents in veterinary medicine, as well as the formulation of positions concerning existing or proposed laws affecting such use.

Council nomination materials, including descriptions and a complete list of vacancies, are available at avma.org. Click on the Membership tab then Volunteer Opportunities to sign up for email alerts regarding available positions.

CVMA Remembers

The CVMA extends its sympathy to the friends and family of those remembered.

Dr. Sherry Brothers, a CVMA member, passed away in February of 2021. Dr. Brothers graduated with a DVM from Cornell University in 1981. She served as an alternate delegate for the CVMA House of Delegates from 1989 to 1991 and as the president of the Orange Belt VMA in 1989. Dr. Brothers worked for 30 years at the Highland Avenue Veterinary Clinic in San Bernardino, California, where she treated a small animal caseload.

Dr. Myron Jorgensen, Jr., a CVMA Life Member, passed away on February 3, 2021. Dr. Jorgensen received his DVM degree at the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1964. He served two years in the United States Army as a veterinary officer at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. Dr. Jorgensen practiced veterinary medicine for 45 years at the Milpitas Animal Hospital in Milpitas, California

In memory of deceased members, the CVMA makes a donation to the California Veterinary Medical Foundation, whose purpose includes “enhancing animal well-being and the human-animal bond.”