Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD)

The goal of the national FARAD program 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.There are six specific objectives of the national FARAD program: (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-based delivery, including extraction of relevant data from foreign drug compendia and gFARAD partners, (2) operation of the Regional Access Centers (RAC's) at NCSU, VMCVM and UCD for provision of residue avoidance information, with access through the toll-free hotline and online submission form, (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 and FARAD fact sheets/species information web based pages, (5) education of veterinarians on drug residue avoidance, and (6) continued development and validation of methods to allow extrapolative techniques to be used in providing information and advice in situations where no direct data currently exists, as is typically required for nearly all environmental contaminant exposures.The goal of the KSU component of the FARAD program is to develop a web-based interface platform that allows FARAD responders to calculate drug withdrawal intervals after extralabel use of different drugs in different food animal species real time.There are four specific objectives of the KSU component of the FARAD program: (1) to conduct a comprehensive review on physiological parameters in various food animal species, including cattle, swine, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, pheasants, ducks, deer, and rabbits, (2) to develop physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models for flunixin in beef cattle and dairy cows, for oxytetracycline in sheep and goats, and for penicillin G in calves; (3) to continue developing PBPK interfaces for penicillin G and flunixin, and (4) to expand FARAD databases to develop global connection.