Antibiotics, antiparasitics, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, and exogenous hormones are among the essential components in the armamentarium of a food animal veterinarian to combat disease, alleviate animal pain, and minimize economic losses. In the United States, many of these veterinary products are US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for use in a large number of major food-producing animals but not for the minor food-producing animals. According to the FDA, the major food-producing animals are cattle (meat and milk), swine, chickens (meat and eggs), and turkeys. The minor food-producing animals are those that do not fall into the major food-producing animal category with the most popular being goats (both dairy and meat), sheep, deer, commercially raised game birds, and food fish and shellfish. This category also includes less obvious food-producing species such as rabbits, ratites, and honey bees. In the USA, horses are a major animal species; however, they are considered companion animals and are not customarily used for human food as in some other countries. In Europe, the European Medicines Agency has defined the major food-producing animals to be cattle (meat and milk), sheep (meat); pigs; chickens (meat and eggs), and salmonids. Minor food-producing animals include minor ruminants (meat and milk), deer (including reindeer), other avian species (meat and eggs), other fish species, and other mammalian species (horse and rabbit). In other countries, the minor food-producing animal category has the potential to be considerably larger because a greater variety of species are consumed such as small rodents, canids, invertebrates, and various avian species.

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in consuming more meat and other products from minor food-producing animals, especially aquaculture species. As this interest grows, so will the expectations to provide safe food items for human consumption. Maintaining the overall health of minor food-producing animals is similar to managing the health of major food-producing animals, and typically requires some use of veterinary pharmaceuticals. However, in contrast to the major food-producing animals, few drugs have FDA approval for use in minor food-producing animals.

One of the major challenges for getting veterinary products approved for use in minor food-producing animals is the reduced economic return due to small market size. Additionally, some of the minor food-producing animals are less tractable (e.g., cervids and bison), and there is wide variation in breeds/species with respect to size and pharmacokinetics. In general, there is a large number of species and incredible diversity within this category. For aquatic species, such as finfish, mollusks, and crustaceans, not only are there species differences, but environmental considerations (salinity, pH, temperature), physiological differences (heterothermy), and management practices that also impact metabolism and excretion of drugs.

This chapter addresses the unique issues associated with the regulatory requirements for getting a drug approved for use in a minor food-producing animal, the availability of veterinary pharmaceuticals for use in minor food-producing animals, and highlights legislation that has helped address the veterinarian’s need for medications to treat these animals. In addition, government programs and scientific approaches used to meet the therapeutic needs for treating minor food-producing animals are discussed.

There are many veterinary pharmaceuticals marketed today that may be administered to minor food-producing animals. The ideal scenario for a veterinarian wanting to treat a minor food-producing animal is having an FDA-approved drug labeled for the intended use in question. One example would be an anthelmintic approved for treating specific gastrointestinal parasites in sheep. This product will have been demonstrated to FDA’s satisfaction to be safe for sheep, safe for the person administering the drug to the sheep, safe for anyone who later consumes meat from the treated sheep, and safe for the environment, both during the drug’s use and its disposal. It will also have been shown to be effective for the labeled use and that it is consistently manufactured to standards of strength and purity. Such a product is labeled with intended uses, doses, and withdrawal times that are appropriate for use in sheep.