Reducing Antibiotic Use in Livestock for Food

Over the last week, the US government has come forward with a national plan to tackle the overuse of antibiotics and the problems of antibiotic resistance.

As the plan was announced by the health, agriculture and defence secretaries, a new report was published estimating that the global use of antibiotics will be 67 per cent higher in 2030 than in 2010 as agriculture intensifies to meet the growing demand for animal protein.

The study's findings call for initiatives to preserve antibiotic effectiveness while simultaneously ensuring food security in low- and lower-middle-income countries.

In a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), Simon Levin of Princeton University and co-authors from a number of international institutions explain that demand for animal protein for human consumption is rising globally at an unprecedented rate, and that modern animal production practices are associated with regular use of antimicrobials, potentially increasing selection pressure on bacteria to become resistant.

Despite the significant potential consequences for antimicrobial resistance, the researchers say, there has been no quantitative measurement of global antimicrobial consumption by livestock.

The national plan put forward this week in the US calls for smarter and judicious use of antibiotics to help to slow the emergence of resistant bacteria.

It says that a “One-Health” approach to disease surveillance will improve detection and control of antibiotic resistance by integrating data from multiple monitoring networks, and by providing high-quality information, such as detailed genomic data, necessary to tracking resistant bacteria in diverse settings in a timely fashion.

The government has set these out in the in the National Action Plan for Combatting Antibiotic Bacteria as two of the main targets to tackle antibiotic resistance in the US over the next five years, laid out.

The policy recommendations follow the US President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)’s report on Combating Antibiotic Resistance.

Over the next year, the US is expected to double the amount of funding for combating and preventing antibiotic resistance to more than $1.2 billion.

However, the new plans to tackle antibiotic use and resistance have met with sharp criticism from campaigning congresswoman Louise Slaughter.

She said: "Once again, the administration has fallen woefully short of taking meaningful action to curb the overuse of antibiotics in healthy food animals.”

Meanwhile, in the UK, a survey has shown that the majority of people believe growth hormones are used by farmers to make animals for food grow faster and that antibiotics used in livestock make them less effective for people.

The survey conducted by market analysts IGD Shopper Vista for the National Office of Animal Health also showed that more than 80 per cent of shoppers believe that it is possible for animal medicines and vaccinations to harm people by getting into food.

Dawn Howard, the chief executive of NOAH said that the results of the survey follow on from the fears raised by the horse meat scandal two years ago.

She said that the concerns are still colouring consumer sentiment about food quality and safety.

And she added that consumers are more confused than ever about animal medicines and how they protect the health and welfare of animals on the farm.