Performing Department
Physiological Sciences
Non Technical Summary
The Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD) is a collaborative university-based food safety program that is coordinated and delivered by veterinary faculty and staff at several US colleges of veterinary medicine. Throughout its 35 year existence, FARAD has continued to evolve to meet the ever changing demands of providing accurate, timely and reliable service to both the veterinary profession and stakeholders throughout the food animal industries. At present, the program is managed through a very close collaboration of personnel at the University of California-Davis (UCD), University of Florida (UF), North Carolina State University (NCSU) and Kansas State University (KSU). The core mission of FARAD is to protect the American public by promoting the production of safe, animal-derived human food products (milk, eggs, meat, honey, etc.) that are devoid of violative or potentially unsafe chemical residues, including drugs, pesticides, environmental contaminants, natural toxins and other harmful substances. In order to carry out this mission, FARAD collates, analyzes and interprets the most up-to-date information and uses that unique information repository to provide accurate and timely expert advice to assist veterinarians who are faced with situations that could cause unsafe chemical residues in human food products. In addition, FARAD maintains and provides an array of complete information resources to veterinarians, extension specialists, farmers, regulatory personnel and others who are the stewards of our nation's expansive commercial food animal industries and the growing number of small backyard livestock operations. Beyond those primary functions, FARAD has a secondary impact on the food consuming public and contributes significantly to human public health and consumer confidence by providing food animal specialists with the most up-to-date and comprehensive scientific information available today.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
40%
Developmental
40%
Goals / Objectives
The Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD) is a collaborative university-based food safety program that is coordinated and delivered by veterinary faculty and staff at several US colleges of veterinary medicine. Throughout its 35 year existence, FARAD has continued to evolve to meet the ever changing demands of providing accurate, timely and reliable service to both the veterinary profession and stakeholders throughout the food animal industries. At present, the program is managed through a very close collaboration of personnel at the University of California-Davis (UCD), University of Florida (UF), North Carolina State University (NCSU) and Kansas State University (KSU).The core mission of FARAD is to protect the American public by promoting the production of safe, animal-derived human food products (milk, eggs, meat, honey, etc.) that are devoid of violative or potentially unsafe chemical residues, including drugs, pesticides, environmental contaminants, natural toxins and other harmful substances. In order to carry out this mission, FARAD collates, analyzes and interprets the most up-to-date information and uses that unique information repository to provide accurate and timely expert advice to assist veterinarians who are faced with situations that could cause unsafe chemical residues in human food products. In addition, FARAD maintains and provides an array of complete information resources to veterinarians, extension specialists, farmers, regulatory personnel and others who are the stewards of our nation's expansive commercial food animal industries and the growing number of small backyard livestock operations. Beyond those primary functions, FARAD has a secondary impact on the food consuming public and contributes significantly to human public health and consumer confidence by providing food animal specialists with the most up-to-date and comprehensive scientific information available today. Throughout more than three decades of delivering this program, FARAD has continued to develop increased sophistication with respect to (1) the acquisition and cataloging of pharmacokinetic data and comprehensive information resources, (2) the mechanisms for information delivery and outreach to our target audiences and (3) the complexity of quantitative tools and models for estimating safe withdrawal intervals for a wide array of chemicals in nearly all species of domestic food animals.FARAD performs a broad array of programmatic functions, but key among these are the collection, evaluation, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of information related to the depletion of drugs and other chemicals in edible products derived from food-producing animal species. The underlying activities that support these functions are carried out through multi-layered and complimentary approaches that are coordinated by the FARAD centers located at UCD, NCSU, UF and KSU. At UCD, FARAD personnel search the peer-reviewed scientific literature plus numerous other information resources for data pertaining to the depletion or elimination from food producing animals of all classes of small molecule entities. Relevant information is extracted and entered into a computer-based archival databank that is readily searchable for customized information retrieval. Because there are many factors that can influence how rapidly an animal eliminates a chemical residue; information about diet, age, gender, breed and disease status are taken into consideration.The primary goal of FARAD is to facilitate the production of safe foods derived from animals through the prevention and mitigation of risks from violative chemical residues. This goal is realized through multiple interrelated activities that entail the collection, assimilation, extraction, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of information that ultimately serves to diminish risks or mitigate potential harmful consequences associated with chemical residues in the US food supply. The types of information available through FARAD include basic veterinary drug registration information, withdrawal times, use indications, as well as complex technical information related to the pharmacokinetics, pharmacometrics and toxicokinetics of drugs and chemicals in food-producing animal species. The primary foci of activities at the UF component of FARAD were (1) continued updating, revision and expansion of Electronic Information Resources that are made available publically through the FARAD website, (2) continued updates of FARAD databases with the latest and most comprehensive regulatory information pertaining to food animal drugs, (3) expansion and validation of FARAD-generated computational pharmacokinetic estimates for incorporation into our proprietary On-Line WDI Lookup Tool and (4) continued efforts to develop smartphone Mobile Apps and further expand database accessibility by a wider array of mobile devices. The updating of regulatory information for food animal drugs was substantially greater this past year owing to the implementation of new standards and requirements for many drugs under the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD).
Project Methods
The methods and approaches that are used to fulfill the FARAD missions involve a shared collaboartive approach among the four centers.1. Extraction and validation of data for incorporation into the system and support for FARAD's approved drug databases for publication in electronic format (VetGRAM) for internet delivery. This includes extraction of relevant data from foreign drug compendia and gFARAD partners.2. Operation of the Regional Access Centers at KSU, NCSU and UCD for provision of residue avoidance information, with access through the toll-free hotline and e-mail. 3. Data entry, pharmacokinetic analysis, maintenance, and distribution of the FARAD files.4. Preparation of FARAD Digests for publication in the Journal of the AVMA, Newsletters, FARAD Fact Sheets when appropriate for rapid dissemination of information in an ongoing crisis, and other publications for distribution.5. Develop and validate methods to allow extrapolative techniques to be used in providing advice in situations where no direct data exists, the norm for mitigating environmental contaminant exposures.In order to carry out these tasks and deliver the essential information to veterinarians and other stakeholders, each regional FARAD center assumed full or shared responsibilities as follows:Kansas State University (KSU) -Coordinate national program, develop pharmacokinetic modeling approaches and provide pharmacokinetic support to FARAD components, and on a rotating schedule with NCSU and UCD, provide responses to emergency queries from the FARAD Hotline.University of California - Davis (UCD) - maintains the pharmacokinetic, bibliographic and call center databases and web-based access to the kinetic and bibliographic citation files. On a rotating basis with NCSU and KSU, UCD provides responses to drug and contaminant residue questions.University of Florida (UF)- Collects and enters data for the US Approved Animal Drugs Database (US-AADD), maintains internet websites for FARAD, creates and supports platforms for mobile devices to access the Veterinarian's Guide to Residue Avoidance Management (VetGRAM) and other mobile-friendly applications, and distributes electronic alerts and updates via email, Twitter and other electronic formats.North Carolina State University (NCSU)- On a rotating schedule with UCD and KSU, provides responses to emergency telephone calls from the FARAD hotline.