In May 2025, the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry prohibited use of several medically important antimicrobials in the aquaculture sector. The order from the Department of Commerce, Government of India, in consultation with the Export Inspection Council, was an amendment to the principal order of the commerce ministry, notified on August 21, 1995 in view of development of export trade in India.
Overuse and misuse of antibiotics in food-animal production settings (poultry, dairy and aquaculture) for purposes such as promoting growth or preventing or controlling diseases is known. This has been attributed as one of the drivers of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), an important public health concern. The presence of resistant bacteria or residual antibiotics in food products such as meat, milk or fish is also a food safety concern.
Researchers have estimated that 10,259 tonnes of antimicrobials were used globally in aquaculture in 2017, and their use will increase by 33 per cent to 13,600 tonnes annually by 2030. The most significant portion of worldwide antimicrobial use in aquaculture is in the Asia-Pacific area.
The amendment prohibited use of any antimicrobial medicinal product for growth promotion or increasing yield. It also added a clear list of antibiotics, antivirals and antiprotozoals that are prohibited from being used in culture of shrimps, prawns or any other variety of fish and fishery products. These are prohibited from use in hatcheries, feed manufacturing units and pre-processing or processing units catering to shrimps, prawns or any other variety of fish and fishery products as well.
In case of antibiotics, the list includes 12 antibiotic classes and six antibiotics. All of them fall under antimicrobials authorised only for use in humans, according to WHO’s List of Medically Important Antimicrobials for Human Medicine. These exclude phosphonic acid derivatives which are authorised for use in both humans and animals and is a Highest Priority Critically Important Antimicrobial.
The order mentioned that not just these antimicrobials, but their groups or medicinal products are also prohibited from use.
List of antibiotics and antibiotic classes prohibited by Union Ministry of Commerce
This amendment added several new antibiotics and antibiotic classes, in addition to the list of 20 pharmacologically active substances that were prohibited by the ministry in 2002 as an amendment to the same order. Out of these 20, five were antibiotics (chloramphenicol, neomycin, nalidixic acid, sulphamethoxazole, dapsone) and five were antibiotic classes (nitrofurans, sulphonamide drugs with few exception, fluoroquinolones, glycopeptides and select nitoimidazoles). Glycopeptides, a class of antibiotics, is present in both previous and current lists.
The Indian aquaculture sector is big and a growing part of Indian food-animal production system. India is the third largest fish producing country, contributing to about 9 per cent of global fish production. It is also the second largest aquaculture producing country, and third largest exporter of sea-foods.
During financial year 2023-24, India exported an all-time high volume of 1.78 million tonnes of seafood, worth $7.38 billion (Rs 60,523.89 crore). The United States and China are the major importers of Indian seafood, with frozen shrimp continuing to be the leading export item.
Existing policies and guidelines with regard to limiting antibiotic use in aquaculture are more focused on export-centric fisheries, in order to avoid rejections in consignment and facilitate smoother export.
However, there are other antibiotics which hare banned in aquaculture in view of domestic consumption and public health. The Coastal Aquaculture Authority prohibited a set of pharmacologically active substances from use, but this applies to coastal aquaculture and coastal aquaculture inputs only.
In October 2024, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India banned several antibiotics from use in production of all animal-derived foods, including aquaculture. This the ban applies to both freshwater and brackishwater aquaculture.
In view of public health safety and considering it necessary in public interest, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2019 had prohibited the manufacturing, sale and distribution of colistin and its formulations, a last resort antibiotic, for use in food-producing animals including aqua farming. In March 2025, MoHFW also prohibited chloramphenicol and nitrofurans and their formulations.