A bill to discourage the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture has met a final defeat in the Senate.

SB416, by Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, would have required the state's schools to "make every effort" to purchase meat produced without the use of antibiotics.

The bill never made it out of the Senate. Senators voted it down in June but granted reconsideration, a routine procedure. In a Jan. 28 floor vote, it failed 16-17.

In its original form, the bill would have barred schools from serving students meat from animals that had been treated with antibiotics in a "non-therapeutic" way -- administered routinely, not as treatment for a particular condition.

Despite having been stripped of its restrictions on its way through the Senate, a host of companies and ag groups remained opposed to the bill, along with the California Veterinary Association and the Animal Health Institute.

Several health, trade and consumer-protection groups supported it.

-- Wes Sander