Communication and documentation are the key to adhering to the Food and Drug Administration’s expanded veterinary feed directive (VFD), experts said last month at the Iowa Pork Congress.

Implementation of the FDA’s Guidance 213 and 209 lays out rules that restrict the use of antibiotics medically important to human medicine. The guidance documents phased out the growth promotion claim of the medically-important compounds used in livestock feed and water.

The VFD ensures that veterinarians play a large role in diagnosing and treating animals on the farm. The VFD was...