How to Avoid Products that Contribute to the Spread of Superbugs

STEVE ROACH, SAFE & HEALTHY FOOD PROGRAM DIRECTOR, FOOD ANIMAL CONCERNS TRUST

Antibiotic resistance is an ever-present and growing danger. Due to the overuse of these medicines in both food animals and human medicine, antibiotics are becoming less effective — even for people who don’t eat meat.

So what can you do about it? History has shown us that individuals have the power to bring about change, and this is especially true when we vote with our wallets. Agribusiness is just that — a business. The industry will always follow the money, so show them what you expect from your food by selecting only animal products that are produced with responsible antibiotic use.  

Take the steps below when food shopping to stop the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections. You’ll also be sending a powerful message to grocers that they need to get superbugs off the supermarket shelves.

Superbugs in Stock: Grocery Chains are Not Giving Enough to Stop Antibiotic Overuse.

By Steve Roach, Safe and Healthy Food Program Director.

I attended a talk this week by Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Califf. When I asked him about antibiotic resistance related to animal agriculture, he said this was an issue where everyone needs to give a little bit. He mentioned doctors, drug makers, and farmers as needing to be part of the solution. People that sell food also need to do their part. That’s why Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT) and some of our allies in the Antibiotics Off the Menu Coalition decided to score the twelve largest U.S. grocery chains on their policies on antibiotic use by their meat suppliers.

Calling on the USDA to Stop Antibiotic Overuse

MADELEINE KLEVEN, SAFE AND HEALTHY FOOD PROGRAM ASSOCIATE, FOOD ANIMAL CONCERNS TRUST

Antibiotic resistance is a leading cause of death worldwide and is rapidly spreading throughout the world. In the United States nearly 3 million Americans get sick with an antibiotic resistant infection, and 160,000 people die every year. As antibiotics continue to be overused, especially in animal agriculture and industrial farming, resistant bacterial strains continue to develop and threaten the lives of millions. It is time the FDA, the USDA and other government agencies take this health threat seriously, and set national targets for reducing the use of antibiotics in agriculture.

McDonald's Drops Its Commitment to Reduce Use in Its Global Beef Supply

STEVE ROACH, SAFE & HEALTHY FOOD PROGRAM DIRECTOR, FOOD ANIMAL CONCERNS TRUST

Why “responsible use” is not a good alternative for “reducing use” when it comes to antibiotics and resistant superbugs.

McDonald’s recently dropped its commitment to establish “reduction targets for medically important antibiotics" which was made in 2018 and replaced it with a new commitment to establish “targets for the responsible use of medically important antibiotics" as its policy for beef served in its restaurants. This is a major setback for the fight against antibiotic resistance. Reduction targets are important because the level of antibiotic use is what is driving the spread of antibiotic resistant superbugs that are creating the antibiotic resistance crisis.

“This setback can and must be temporary”

CDC on the lost progress combating antibiotic resistance due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For FDA, there are no goals so no setbacks.

STEVE ROACH, SAFE & HEALTHY FOOD PROGRAM DIRECTOR, FOOD ANIMAL CONCERNS TRUST

In addition to the terrible burden on health caused by the COVID-19 pandemic directly, the pandemic also set back efforts to address the public health crisis of antibiotic resistance.

FDA Just Gave Itself a B+ on its Efforts to Fight Antibiotic Resistance

A “D-” WOULD BE A MORE REALISTIC GRADE BUT THE AGENCY STILL HAS ANOTHER YEAR TO CATCH UP.

STEVE ROACH, SAFE & HEALTHY FOOD PROGRAM DIRECTOR, FOOD ANIMAL CONCERNS TRUST

FDA just gave itself a B+ on the first phase of a plan to combat resistance that results from antibiotic use in animals. FACT thinks a “D-” would be a more appropriate grade. The plan was released in September 2018 and the first phase was completed last year.

The plan itself was not very ambitious to start with and included very few actions that were likely to reduce the antibiotic overuse that is creating the antibiotic resistance crisis. One thing clearly missing from the plan was a target for reduction in antibiotic use. However, the plan did include a few items that are absolutely needed.

Preventing or Profiting? How Factory Farms Disguise Antibiotic Misuse as Care

STEVE ROACH, SAFE & HEALTHY FOOD PROGRAM DIRECTOR, FOOD ANIMAL CONCERNS TRUST

A dangerous practice has become commonplace in industrial animal production – the routine misuse of antibiotics to prevent ailments that result from the crowded, dirty conditions in which animals are raised. This overuse is not only unnecessary with the humane treatment of farm animals, but harmful to human health. That is why Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT) and the Keep Antibiotics Working (KAW) coalition is calling for a 50% reduction in the use of antibiotics in food animals by 2025.

Regenerative Agriculture: Animals and the Broader View

Regenerative Agriculture: Animals and the Broader View

STEVE ROACH, SAFE & HEALTHY FOOD PROGRAM DIRECTOR, FOOD ANIMAL CONCERNS TRUST

You may have heard of regenerative agriculture. It has been getting a lot of attention lately as a potential solution to climate change. There is no agreed upon definition of regenerative agriculture, but most often it refers to agricultural practices that improve soil health and increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil. For crop farmers, regenerative agriculture may refer to planting cover crops and minimal tillage. Right now, there is a lot of money, both private and public, for research into the carbon storage potential of agricultural land or to promote these practices.

Healthy Pigs do not need Antibiotics

Healthy Pigs do not need Antibiotics

Steve Roach, Safe & Healthy Food Program Director, Food Animal Concerns Trust

The way most pigs are raised in the US makes them sick. The US produces over 100 million pigs each year and most of them are raised under conditions that lead to consistently sick animals. Farms manage this with antibiotic drugs in the animal’s feed. Pigs are most at risk for disease after weaning when they are switching from milk to solid grain-based diets. Weaning in itself is stressful as their guts have to change to digest sold food not milk, baby pigs are no longer getting antibodies that help fight off disease from their mom’s milk, and they are often moved to new buildings where they are crowded and mixed with other pigs. They often are still recovering at this point from having their teeth clipped, being castrated, and having their tails docked. All of these things are stressful for the animals. You would think that pig producers would do whatever they can to keep their pigs healthy.

When voting with your dollars to stop antibiotic resistance, what should you do about cheating in the market place?

STEVE ROACH , SAFE AND HEALTHY FOOD PROGRAM DIRECTOR, FOOD ANIMAL CONCERNS TRUST

Everyone has to eat, and we often make decisions about what to eat based on our values. For some people, this means becoming a vegetarian or buying humanely raised products. Many people also seek out meat from animals that have been raised without antibiotics both because it is healthier individually and because it also reduces the risk to the community from antibiotic resistance superbugs.

Antimicrobial Resistance : An even bigger threat than we thought

MADELEINE KLEVEN, SAFE AND HEALTHY FOOD PROGRAM ASSOCIATE, FOOD ANIMAL CONCERNS TRUST

According to new data, the antibiotic resistance crisis is even worse than we thought. A study published in Lancet last week estimates 1.27 million deaths globally were caused by antibiotic resistant-superbugs in 2019. The previous widely accepted estimate from the The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance attributed 700,000 deaths to antibiotic resistant superbugs. While past data has given us a window into this growing global threat, the Lancet article provides a more comprehensive analysis that utilizes additional country specific data as well as deaths associated with a much broader group of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Though a shocking estimate, it is likely the most accurate representation of the global burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to date.

Finally, sales of antibiotics for use in food animals have stopped climbing, but not for turkeys. To protect public health, sales need to go down not just plateau.

STEVE ROACH , SAFE AND HEALTHY FOOD PROGRAM DIRECTOR, FOOD ANIMAL CONCERNS TRUST

Data released by the FDA today showed a slight drop (3%) in the sales of medically important antibiotics for use in food-producing animals. This is only the third time that sales have dropped from year to year since data began being collected in 2009. Particularly good were reductions in the use of two classes of drugs, cephalosporins and macrolides. These drugs are considered critically important to human medicine because they are the go-to drugs for infections that people catch from food animals. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that these drugs not be used at all in animals, so having sales of them go down is important.

Keep Antibiotics Working is staffed by Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT). Learn more at www.foodanimalconcernstrust.org.