Caring for Our Environment
Antibiotics: Pork Industry Addresses Disease Resistance
FAQs
Q. I've seen news reports of growing concerns about antibiotic resistance in humans because of antibiotic use in farm animal production. Is this a legitimate concern?
A. Consumers are increasingly concerned about how the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture affects the safety of their food. There is agreement that the use of antibiotics in humans is the largest contributor to the problem of antibiotic resistance. United States Centers for Disease Control statistics show humans consume 235 million doses of antibiotics annually. It's estimated that between 20 and 50 percent of that is unnecessary. The role of antibiotic use in food animal production is not as clear. Much of the public concern is not based in sound science. Incomplete knowledge hampers the ability to come up with good answers and could lead to overly simplistic solutions. For antibiotic resistance to impact any individual, that person would first have to ingest antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria from a food product, that bacteria would have to survive and multiply in the person's digestive tract, causing illness. The person would then need to seek medical attention, and then the doctor treating the individual would have to treat the person with the antibiotic to which the bacteria was resistant. A person's chance of experiencing treatment failure for foodborne bacteria due to antibiotic resistance is quite low when compared to other known risks. One recent risk assessment on a commonly used product in pork production estimated that your chance of treatment failure due to antibiotic resistance from eating pork is 1 in 53 million. A person is more likely to be struck by lightning, attacked by a shark, die from a bee sting or die from a dog bite than experience treatment failure due to antibiotic resistance from eating pork. The impact of antibiotic resistance from foodborne bacteria is usually a longer period of symptoms associated with food poisoning, like nausea and diarrhea. While unpleasant, this limited risk has to be weighed against the benefits to both humans and animals of using antibiotics in food animal production.
Q. I've heard that hog farmers are forced to use large amounts of antibiotics to keep pigs alive due to conditions inside confinement barns at factory farms.
A. Modern confinement facilities have been designed to maximize animal health. Conditions in these barns are carefully regulated to keep the animals dry and warm, provide them with fresh water and feed, and to give them space to grow. Maintaining clean facilities and preventing the introduction of disease is a top priority for all producers because having a healthy herd provides the greatest financial return. The use of any antibiotic increases a farmer's cost of production. A producer's first choice is always to reduce the cost of all inputs used in production. Many producers and veterinarians tell us that they use fewer antibiotics in current production facilities than they did in older facilities that were more difficult to clean or to environmentally regulate. However, the responsible use of antibiotics can help prevent disease, treat sick animals when needed, and improve nutritional efficiency, which reduces the amount of feed consumed and manure produced. Each of these uses has benefits and helps producers meet consumer demand for safe, healthy pork.