Promote the prevention of illegal drug residues in animal derived foods through educational outreach and training

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Project Summary/Proposal Abstract The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) is seeking funding from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Drug Residue Cooperative Agreement program (RFA-FD-15-025) to support outreach to Virginia producers and veterinarians. The amount of funding requested for the three year period is $260,982. The VDACS Office of Veterinary Services (OVS) meets all requirements to be eligible for this funding. The program serves as the state’s livestock and poultry health regulatory program, and has had an FDA tissue residue inspection contract for several years. Funding provided by this grant will be utilized to support outreach to Virginia livestock producers and veterinarians on specific steps they can take to avoid violative drug residues in food animals. Veterinarians serving as subject matter experts will convey to producers and food animal veterinarians the importance of taking measures to prevent tissue residues, and act as a resource to veterinarians and producers on current FDA rules, including those on veterinary feed directives. Veterinarians will also perform outreach on the importance of effective traceability so that drug residues can be traced to their origins.