Antibiotic Growth Promoters: Bans by Country, Remaining Uses and Alternatives

Antibiotic growth promoters are antibiotics fed to healthy animals to raise weight gain and feed efficiency, and the EU has allowed none as feed additives since 1 January 2006 (Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003, Articles 5(4) and 11(2)). Before that date the EU removed them in three steps, starting with avoparcin in 1997, and since 28 January 2022 a separate medicines rule also forbids any antimicrobial medicine for growth or yield.

The United States took a different path. Bacitracins, bambermycins and carbadox keep over-the-counter (OTC) growth claims in 21 CFR 558, while medically important drugs such as tylosin, virginiamycin and chlortetracycline lost theirs under FDA Guidance for Industry (GFI) #213 from January 2017. Antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) therefore carry a different legal status in each market, set out below by country with its instrument, alongside the claims that remain, the size of the growth effect and the checks a feed mill or buyer runs.

Every value below is compiled from EU acts, the EU Register of Feed Additives, the eCFR, the Federal Register, FDA guidance and named peer-reviewed studies, checked on 3 November 2026; see the methodology.

What Are Antibiotic Growth Promoters?#

An antibiotic growth promoter is an antimicrobial added to feed at approved levels for weight gain or feed efficiency rather than for the treatment of a diagnosed infection. In EU law none of the five feed additive categories of Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 admits an antibiotic other than a coccidiostat or histomonostat, and category 5 is reserved for those two groups. The term covers fermentation antibiotics such as bacitracin and tylosin as well as carbadox, a synthetic quinoxaline-N-dioxide counted with the group.

EU legal position and US classification#

In the EU, antibiotics other than coccidiostats and histomonostats cannot be authorised as feed additives (Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003, Article 5(4)), and the last four were deleted from the Register on 1 January 2006. Those four were monensin sodium, salinomycin sodium, avilamycin and flavophospholipol, which could be marketed and used only until 31 December 2005 (Article 11(2)). A feed additive is a substance, micro-organism or preparation, other than feed material and premixtures, intentionally added to feed or water to perform a listed function (Article 2(2)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003), and the regulation has applied since 18 October 2004.

Monensin sodium and salinomycin sodium lost only their growth use. Both still hold EU Register entries as coccidiostats, so the EU did not ban ionophores. Beta-agonists sit outside this frame altogether: Council Directive 96/22/EC (Articles 2 and 3(a)) prohibits them for farm and aquaculture animals, with therapeutic exceptions only; they are repartitioning agents, not antibiotics, and are regulated separately.

In the US, growth-promoting antibiotics are new animal drugs, not feed additives. Part 558 of 21 CFR holds 63 sections in the eCFR edition of 1 October 2026: four general sections, 558.3 to 558.6, and 59 drug sections, each with its approved species, levels, claims and withdrawal. The two systems therefore differ at the root: the EU decides by additive category and has closed it to antibiotics, while the US decides drug by drug and claim by claim. Categories, authorisation routes and labelling on the EU side are explained under EU feed additive regulation.

Why antibiotics were fed for growth#

Antibiotics were fed for growth because they raise daily gain and lower feed conversion ratio in healthy animals, by 28.15 g/d and 0.09 in pigs in the meta-analysis by Acosta and colleagues (Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 2026). Feed conversion ratio is the feed eaten per unit of weight gain, so a lower value means less feed per kilogram of gain.

The EU now regards that logic as closed. Regulation (EU) 2019/6, Article 107(1), states that antimicrobial medicines must not be used to compensate for poor hygiene, inadequate husbandry or poor farm management. Denmark tested the change early: it stopped AGPs in January 2000, and its national data on pig production since then are set out in the evidence section below.

Member Table: Growth-Promoting Antibiotics and Related Pages#

The 13 rows below cover the antibiotics fed for growth in the EU before 2006 or in the US today, with EU history, EU status now and US section side by side; the 4 pages in the second table cover beta-agonists, zinc oxide, copper and the alternatives.

The last column lists only instruments the editors have confirmed from a primary source; other national rules are under review. The second table covers the four node pages whose subjects are not antibiotics but replaced or followed them.

How Do Growth-Promoting Antibiotics Work?#

Growth-promoting antibiotics act on the gut bacteria, and each member hits one bacterial target, from the cell wall (bacitracin, bambermycins) to the ribosome (avilamycin, tylosin, virginiamycin, chlortetracycline). The growth response follows from fewer or different gut bacteria, not from a nutrient the antibiotic supplies.

Molecular targets of the member antibiotics#

Bacitracin, bambermycins and avilamycin act on Gram-positive bacteria, colistin disrupts the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, and carbadox is a synthetic quinoxaline-N-dioxide. The table lists the class and target of each antibiotic member.

Resistance was the ground the EU gave for two of the 1998 deletions: for tylosin, Council Regulation (EC) No 2821/98 cites tylosin-resistant enterococci that are cross-resistant to erythromycin, and for virginiamycin, streptogramin cross-resistance (quinupristin and dalfopristin). Carbadox stands apart because the concern was the substance itself: the EU Scientific Committee for Animal Nutrition found it genotoxic and carcinogenic in rodents, and Commission Regulation (EC) No 2788/98 withdrew it on that advice. Its harmonised CLP classification today is Annex VI index 613-050-00-9: Flam. Sol. 1 H228, Carc. 1B H350, Acute Tox. 4 H302.

Evidence from meta-analyses and national data#

AGPs raised average daily gain by 1.78 g/d in broilers, 28.15 g/d in pigs and 30 g/d in cattle in the meta-analysis by Acosta and colleagues of 95 studies and 128 observations from 2000 to 2023 (Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 2026). The table sets that pooled result next to national data and one controlled trial.

The pooled effect in the Acosta meta-analysis is measurable but modest, and the Danish national data show production still improving across the 1992 to 2008 period that spans the 2000 stop, as Aarestrup and colleagues reported. The Paul trial fed chlortetracycline, bacitracin methylene disalicylate, lincomycin, tylosin and virginiamycin to broilers over three cycles and found no significant cumulative performance effect, yet the AGPs still influenced the selection of resistance genes; it is one trial and not the class effect. The Chinese colistin data show the other side of the balance: resistance in pig faeces fell once colistin left Chinese feed as a growth promoter.

Selection by Destination Market and Production Country#

Destination market decides first: animals and products entering the EU must not come from animals given antimicrobials for growth or yield, or antimicrobials reserved for humans, under Article 118 of Regulation (EU) 2019/6 and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/905. The reserved antimicrobials are listed in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1255, applicable since 9 February 2023, and the third countries authorised for entry are listed in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2598 of 4 October 2024, which applies from 3 September 2026 (Article 3). An exporter checks the current annex of that act before the production plan is fixed.

The table sets out each market's rule on growth use, its instrument and date, and what the feed mill checks.

Production-country law comes second. Within the EU nothing is left to choose, since no antibiotic holds a feed-additive entry; in the US the 21 CFR 558 section of each drug decides which claim and level apply. Mixing compliance comes third: a US mill needs a medicated feed mill licence for Category II Type A articles, and an EU mill that makes antibiotic medicated feed keeps non-target feed under the cross-contamination limits of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1229.

Selection by Species and Diet#

Species decides which US growth claims exist: broilers have bacitracin methylene disalicylate and bambermycins, growing-finishing pigs add bacitracin zinc and carbadox, and cattle have bacitracin zinc and bambermycins, while EU feed carries none for any species. The table pairs each species with its US claims and the programme and problem pages that cover the replacements.

Antibiotics in poultry feed#

In US broiler feed, bacitracin methylene disalicylate (21 CFR 558.76) and bambermycins (21 CFR 558.95) keep OTC growth claims, while avilamycin and virginiamycin are VFD drugs with necrotic enteritis claims only. Avilamycin carries a claim for necrotic enteritis mortality in broiler chickens under 21 CFR 558.68, and virginiamycin a necrotic enteritis claim under 21 CFR 558.635; neither has a growth claim.

In broilers the pooled AGP effect is the smallest of the three species: +1.78 g/d daily gain and a feed conversion ratio lower by 0.05 in the Acosta meta-analysis. EU poultry feed carries no antibiotic for growth, and the EU growth promoters used in poultry until 2006, avilamycin and flavophospholipol, ended with the last four deletions. Necrotic enteritis, the disease the remaining US claims name, is the main problem the replacement additives address in broilers.

Antibiotics in pig feed#

Pig feed holds the most US growth claims: bacitracin methylene disalicylate, bacitracin zinc, bambermycins and carbadox, the last one swine-only with a 42-day withdrawal and an FDA withdrawal proposal pending since 7 November 2023. FDA proposed to withdraw approval of the carbadox applications on that date (88 FR 76756), and no final order had appeared in the Federal Register as of 3 November 2026, so 21 CFR 558.115 still lists the drug. The VFD members carry disease claims only: avilamycin for E. coli diarrhoea in weaned pigs, tylosin for swine dysentery and ileitis, virginiamycin for swine dysentery and chlortetracycline for enteritis, pneumonia and ileitis.

EU pig feed has no antibiotic growth promoter, and the two minerals once fed at growth-promoting levels are now bounded by legal maxima: zinc at 150 mg/kg total for piglets and copper at 150 mg/kg up to 4 weeks after weaning (second table above). Denmark shows the long-run picture: pigs per sow per year rose from 21 to 25 between 1992 and 2008, a period that includes the national stop of January 2000.

Antibiotics in cattle feed#

Common antibiotics in US cattle feed are bacitracin zinc and bambermycins with growth claims, and tylosin, virginiamycin and chlortetracycline under VFD orders for liver abscess or other disease claims. Bacitracin zinc carries a growth claim at 35 to 70 mg/head/day (21 CFR 558.78), and bambermycins carry growth claims for both feedlot and pasture cattle (21 CFR 558.95).

Tylosin is approved for reduction of liver abscesses in beef cattle, virginiamycin for liver abscesses in cattle in confinement and chlortetracycline for liver condemnation and anaplasmosis claims; all three are medically important and need a VFD order. Cattle gained 30 g/d more on AGPs in the Acosta meta-analysis. Beta-agonists such as ractopamine are fed to finishing cattle in the US but are not antibiotics, and their status sits in the second table above.

Remaining Uses and Dosing Logic: US Growth Claims and the EU Zero#

Growth-claim levels exist only as US approved conditions of use in 21 CFR 558, from 1 to 2 g/ton of bambermycins in broiler feed to 10 to 25 g/ton of carbadox for growing pigs, while the EU level for every species is zero. The table gives each growth-claim level with its basis and instrument.

US levels are approved conditions of use, not recommendations, and g/ton and mg/head/day values are not comparable. Each level belongs to its own section, species and claim: the bacitracin methylene disalicylate entry in 21 CFR 558.76, for example, prints separate levels for broilers and for growing-finishing swine, and a level approved for one species never transfers to another. The four VFD drugs keep disease claims at their own levels, which are not growth uses and are not given here. No US withdrawal period is printed for the bacitracin or bambermycin growth claims, while carbadox carries its 42 days and is not for breeding swine.

The EU zero rests on two separate acts. The 2006 deletions under Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 closed the feed-additive route, and Article 107(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/6 closed the medicines route for growth or yield. No dated public price source was found for AGPs or medicated premixes, so offers are compared on section, claim, concentration of the Type A article and certification.

Bans by Country: Regulation Summary with Dated Instruments#

The EU deleted growth-promoting antibiotics in three steps between 1997 and 2006, the US removed growth claims only from medically important drugs under GFI #213, and China banned colistin as a growth promoter from 30 April 2017 (MOA Announcement 2428). Each rule below carries its instrument and date.

European Union: from the avoparcin deletion to the import condition#

The EU agp ban came in steps: avoparcin under Commission Directive 97/6/EC (applied by 1 April 1997), four antibiotics under Council Regulation (EC) No 2821/98 and carbadox and olaquindox under Commission Regulation (EC) No 2788/98 (both from 1 January 1999), and the last four in 2006. The five dated EU steps are listed below.

• 30 January 1997: Commission Directive 97/6/EC deletes avoparcin (E 715) from Annex I of Directive 70/524/EEC, to apply by 1 April 1997.
• 17 December 1998: Council Regulation (EC) No 2821/98 deletes bacitracin zinc, spiramycin, virginiamycin and tylosin phosphate, applying from 1 January 1999 (until 30 June 1999 in Member States without an earlier national ban).
• 22 December 1998: Commission Regulation (EC) No 2788/98 withdraws carbadox and olaquindox, applying from 1 January 1999 (until 31 August 1999 in Member States without an earlier ban).
• 1 January 2006: monensin sodium, salinomycin sodium, avilamycin and flavophospholipol are deleted from the Register (Article 11(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003).
• 28 January 2022: Article 107(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/6 forbids antimicrobial medicines for growth or yield.

Denmark moved ahead of the Union and stopped virginiamycin nationally on 15 January 1998. The 2022 date is the medicines rule, not a feed-additive ban: feed additives had been closed to antibiotics since 2006, and monensin sodium and salinomycin sodium kept their coccidiostat entries.

The import condition extends the medicines rule to trade. Animals and products from third countries must meet the Article 118 conditions of Regulation (EU) 2019/6 and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/905, against the reserved list of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1255 and the country list of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2598, which applies from 3 September 2026.

United States: growth claims removed for medically important drugs#

The US never banned antibiotic growth promoters: GFI #213 (final 12 December 2013) removed growth claims from medically important antimicrobials from January 2017, and bacitracins, bambermycins and carbadox remain OTC where approved. GFI #209, final on 13 April 2012, preceded it with the judicious-use principles for medically important antimicrobial drugs. The switch itself ran through supplemental approvals: a Federal Register rule of 27 December 2016 moved 71 new animal drug applications (NADAs) and 35 abbreviated applications (ANADAs) from OTC to VFD status.

Since then, avilamycin, tylosin, virginiamycin and chlortetracycline need an order under the veterinary feed directive, the rule at 21 CFR 558.6 whose final version was published at 80 FR 31733 on 3 June 2015. VFD status does not mean medically important: avilamycin is a VFD drug, yet it is an orthosomycin not used in human medicine. GFI #273, final on 13 February 2026, adds defined durations of use for medically important antimicrobials fed to food-producing animals.

Carbadox is the open case. On 7 November 2023 FDA revoked its residue method (88 FR 76760) and proposed withdrawal of its applications (Docket FDA-2023-N-4742); with no final order, carbadox is approved and not banned in the US.

China, Brazil and other markets#

China banned colistin as an animal growth promoter from 30 April 2017 (MOA Announcement 2428), and colistin sulfate premix production fell from 27,170 t in 2015 to 2,497 t in 2018 (Wang et al., Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2020). The same study recorded the resistance fall in pig faeces shown in the evidence table.

Brazil acted on the human-reserved group: Portaria SDA/MAPA nº 1.600 of 13 April 2026 (DOU 14 April 2026) bans the registration, import and use of antimicrobials that the World Health Organization reserves for humans in food animals. Replacement additives then enter the market through the registration route set out under Brazil feed additive regulation.

Use conditions: mixing, cross-contamination and residues#

Where growth claims remain, the mill needs a medicated feed mill licence to make Type B or C feed from Category II Type A articles, and EU mills carrying antibiotic medicated feed must keep non-target feed under the cross-contamination limits of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1229. The licence requirement for Category II Type A articles is set in 21 CFR 515.20. Two incompatibilities are printed in the sections: carbadox must not go into Type B or C feed containing bentonite, and liquid tylosin Type B feed (pH 4.5 to 6.0) must not contain sodium metabisulfite or more than 2 % bentonite. Residue tolerances are 0.5 ppm in edible tissues for bacitracin (21 CFR 556.70) and 0.2 ppm for tylosin (21 CFR 556.746).

The EU limits apply from 20 May 2025 and are set in µg/kg of non-target feed: tetracyclines 100, tylosin, tilmicosin and tylvalosin 100, colistin A 150 and colistin B 300. The reference method is the JRC LC-MS/MS multi-analyte method for 24 antibiotics in feed (Vincent and colleagues, 2024, EUR 31818 EN).

Sourcing Checklist for Growth-Promoting Antibiotics and Their Replacements#

Source a growth-promoting antibiotic or its replacement in seven checks, from the destination market to the certificate of analysis, listed below in the order they decide a purchase.

1. Confirm the destination market rule: the Article 118 condition and the country list of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2598 for EU exports.
2. Confirm the production-country status of the substance in the member table, for example no EU entry or a US OTC growth claim.
3. Check the 21 CFR 558 section, the claim and the sponsor on the Type A medicated article label.
4. Confirm the medicated feed mill licence for Category II Type A articles.
5. Check the printed incompatibilities: carbadox not in Type B or C feed with bentonite; liquid tylosin Type B not with sodium metabisulfite or more than 2 % bentonite.
6. Plan flushing and testing against the EU cross-contamination limits, with the JRC multi-analyte method as reference.
7. Ask for FAMI-QS or GMP+ certification and the certificate of analysis for each replacement additive, and check its own EU entry on the alternatives page.

A buyer should read any "natural growth promoter" label as a seller's term: a replacement additive carries only the claim written in its own EU entry or US status.

Antibiotic Growth Promoter Questions#

Three questions about antibiotic growth promoters come from buyers and exporters more than any other.

Which antibiotics are used as growth promoters in poultry?#

In the US, bacitracin methylene disalicylate, bacitracin zinc and bambermycins carry poultry growth claims; in the EU, no antibiotic may be fed to poultry for growth. The current and former poultry growth promoters are listed below.

• Bacitracin methylene disalicylate: US OTC growth claim, broilers, 21 CFR 558.76.
• Bacitracin zinc: US OTC growth claim, chickens and turkeys, 21 CFR 558.78.
• Bambermycins: US OTC growth claim, broilers and turkeys, 21 CFR 558.95.
• Avilamycin and flavophospholipol: EU growth promoters for poultry until 31 December 2005.

Does the US allow antibiotics in chicken?#

Yes: US broiler feed may carry OTC growth claims for bacitracins and bambermycins and VFD claims for avilamycin and virginiamycin, each under its 21 CFR 558 section with a residue tolerance where one is set. Bacitracin carries a tolerance of 0.5 ppm in edible tissues, while bambermycins and avilamycin need no tolerance (21 CFR 556.75 and 556.60).

Is the use of antibiotics as feed additives legal in the EU?#

No: antibiotics other than coccidiostats and histomonostats cannot be EU feed additives, and antibiotics reach EU feed only as veterinary medicines in prescribed medicated feed. Regulation (EU) 2019/4 has governed that route since 28 January 2022.

An antimicrobial prescription for medicated feed is valid for 5 days, the treatment lasts 2 weeks by default where the product summary is silent, one prescription covers one antimicrobial veterinary medicine, and prophylactic use is excluded (Articles 16 and 17). The full rules for medicated feed sit on their own page.