Preserving effectiveness of antibiotics is critical to sustainability

Poultry’s role in the bigger picture includes facilitating the sharing of best practice and endorsing the International Poultry Council’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Principles, promoting transparency as well as responsible use. Photo: Canva

The use of medically important antibiotics in the UK poultry meat sector has fallen by nearly 99% since 2012, according to the latest industry figures.

In its 2024 Antibiotic Stewardship report, the British Poultry Council said ongoing collaboration and engaging communication across the British poultry meat sector was a key to stewardship success. Sharing of data in the sector has helped achieve:

an 81% reduction in the total use of antibiotics since 2012,
a 98.7% reduction in use of medically important antibiotics since 2012, and;
zero use of preventative antibiotics – no use of antibiotics as growth promoters, which is illegal.

The report shows that last year (2023) saw the second-lowest total use of antibiotics – 15.60 tonnes compared to 81.67 tonnes used in 2012 and 94.58 tonnes in 2013.

The antibiotics used in chickens mg/PCU figure of 13.54 is below the 25mg/PCU target set by the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA), while the statistics for turkeys show a 33.62mg/PCU; again lower than the 50mg/PCU RUMA target. There is no RUMA target for ducks; the amount of antibiotics used in 2023 was just 0.39mg/PCU compared to 15.11mg/PCU in 2014.

The sector has been prioritising the safe use of antibiotics in the poultry meat industry since 2011 and was the first to voluntarily develop a strategy for the responsible use of antibiotics.

As a result, the sector was able to see its role in the larger picture in the battle against antimicrobial resistance and said this week it is committed to maintaining open communication and an honest dialogue on antibiotics use at a pre-competitive level.

Poultry’s role in the bigger picture includes facilitating the sharing of best practice and endorsing the International Poultry Council’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Principles, promoting transparency as well as responsible use.

Richard Griffiths, British Poultry Council chief executive, said: “A billion birds a year are reared for food for this country and our farmers have a duty of care to every single one. That includes working with professional veterinarians to safeguard bird health and well-being by ensuring the sustainability of our antibiotics.

“We remain under government-approved RUMA species-specific sector targets and continue to challenge antibiotic use levels while treating birds under strict veterinary direction if required. Preserving the effectiveness of antibiotics is critical to the long-term sustainability of both the British and the global poultry meat industry,” he added.