The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday nearly all drug companies asked by the agency to voluntarily phase out the use of antibiotics in animals raised to produce food have agreed to comply, a move the health regulator said was needed to ensure that similar pharmaceuticals used to treat illnesses in humans remain effective.

The government has been grappling for years over how to regulate antibiotics given to cattle, hogs and poultry that also are used in humans to treat infections. Increasingly, consumer groups and lawmakers have been pressuring the FDA to act after bacteria have started to become resistant to the antibiotics when they are given to humans.

In December, the FDA asked 26 companies to stop labeling pharmaceuticals used to treat infections in humans as acceptable for growth production in animals. The firms had the option of withdrawing them from animal use or changing the labeling so they can only be administered with a prescription from a veterinarian.

The FDA said Wednesday 25 companies, including Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Eli Lilly’s Elanco Animal Health and Novartis Animal Health US, agreed to phase out the use of medically important antibiotics in food production. The companies that agreed were responsible for 99.95 percent of the total sales of products being targeted by the FDA.

“FDA is encouraged by the response thus far and will continue to monitor ongoing participation,” the agency said in a statement.

The FDA did not disclose the firm that has not agreed to voluntarily comply.

Antibiotics are commonly added to feed for hogs and other livestock to help them grow faster and to protect them from diseases, especially in confined operations. The decades-old practice has drawn fire over fear the practice is promoting the spread of drug-resistant bacteria dangerous to humans.

Steven Roach, senior analyst for Keep Antibiotics Working praised the FDA’s transparency but remained concerned that agreements by the companies are non-binding, meaning they could choose to withdraw their support at any time. He also said FDA’s failure to make any progress on collecting information on what animals receive antibiotics and for which purposes “will greatly limit our ability to see if the voluntary plan is working.”

“Getting the companies to send letters is the easy part, actually reducing antibiotic overuse is the real challenge,” Roach said. “We remain skeptical that FDA’s approach will do much to mitigate the public health threat caused by antibiotic resistance.”

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