Did you know that feeding honeybees certain antimicrobials is covered under the Veterinary Feed Directive rule? For example, to feed oxytetracycline medicated feed (to control American and European Foulbrood), a bee keeper must obtain a Veterinary Feed Directive order from a licensed veterinarian.

You may be asking, where do I find a veterinarian able to diagnose my hive? One answer is the Honeybee Veterinary Consortium. The Honeybee Veterinary Consortium was created with the goal of linking bee keepers with veterinarians that have an interest in honeybee medicine. Their website http://www.honeybeeveterinaryconsortium.org/, while still under construction, serves as a great resource for the North Carolina bee community in building veterinary-client-patient relationships. They also have a facebook page!

As always please feel free to submit questions or concerns to the listserv by emailing ncdacs_feed_safety_information_6@lists.ncmail.net and someone will get answers back to you as soon as possible.

This information has been provided by:
Jessica E Gore
FSMA Programs Coordinator
Food & Drug Protection Division
North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services
(919) 270-1635