"The use of antibiotics in food animal production slightly increased and antibiotic resistant bacteria in meat products remained an issue 2011, according to two sets of data released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday."

"Antimicrobial drug sales data reported to the FDA showed a small uptick over 2010 numbers, up about 2.3 percent to 29.9 million pounds total. There were differences between different classes of antimicrobials. For Sulfas, a class of drugs used to treat infections in humans, the number of pounds sold dropped by 36 percent, compared to 2010. On the other hand, Ionophores, which are not used in human medicine, increased by nearly 8 percent."

Helena Bottemiller reports for Food Safety News February 6, 2013. [2]