VARSS
In November 2022, the latest UK Veterinary Antibiotic Resistance and Sales Surveillance Report UK-VARSS 2021 and a highlights report were was published. Sales of veterinary antibiotics for use in food-producing animals, adjusted for animal population, were 28.3 mg/kg; a 6% decrease since 2020 and an overall 55% decrease since 2014. This represents the lowest sales to date. Sales of Highest Priority Critically Important Antibiotics (HP-CIAs) in food-producing animals account for 0.4% of total sales and there has been an 18% decrease since 2020. Use by species is shown in this infographic.
We are pleased to see the overall decline in use of antibiotics in all species, except salmon and turkey, which have seen a worrying increase. Between 2020 and 2021, antibiotic use in the turkey sector increased by 16.8 mg/kg to 42.6 mg/kg, which is similar to levels that were seen in 2019. In data collected by Salmon Scotland representing 100% of the industry, 8.9 tonnes of antibiotic active ingredient were used in 2021, representing 43.1 mg/kg, which is 13.8 mg/kg higher than the use reported in 2020, and more than two times (27.0 mg/kg) higher than when data was first published in 2017. Oxytetracycline remains the most used antibiotic class in salmon (accounting for 86% of total use in 2021).
Also of concern is the increasing use of the fluorquinolone antibiotics in chickens. The US banned fluoroquinolone use in poultry in 2005, because of clear evidence that it led to resistance in human Campylobacter infections. Unfortunately the UK has refused to implement a similar ban. However, in 2016 the British Poultry Council announced that it had voluntarily stopped using these antibiotics in chickens, but now use has restarted, and increased in 2021 compared with 2020. This shows the dangers of relying solely on voluntary action, which can always be reversed.
Despite the reductions made by the pig industry, use per pig remains 5 times higher than in Sweden & 2 times higher as in Denmark & Netherlands.
FAO report on UK farm antibiotic reductions
UK Farmers have made significant reductions in the use of antibiotics and this has been recognised in the Food and Agriculture Organisation's 2022 publication Tackling antimicrobial use and resistance in food-producing animals.
The Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics is pleased to see this downward trend, however this is a significant area medically for humans, financially and from the perspective of the conditions for the farmed animals - so it is important we focus on what can still be done, as well as the successes. Further improvements can be made via better husbandry farming methods, reducing the consumption of animal products, more detailed data collection by farm type and by a drive to reduce group treatments in favour of individual ones.
Call for improvements to pig husbandry to reduce the need for antibiotics
This Pig Progress article presents a good explanation of the need for a One Health approach. The authors say "it is important to identify the main on-farm stressors in intensive swine production systems, to evaluate their negative impacts on pig health and welfare, and to find strategies to assess how welfare and health improvement of pigs contribute to antibiotic reduction in swine industry. Animal welfare and environmental issues have been major concerns in the past decades. According to the World Organization for Animal Health “an animal experiences good welfare if it is healthy, comfortable, well-nourished, safe, is not suffering from unpleasant states, such as pain, fear, and distress, and is able to express behaviours that are important for its physical and mental state". However, high stocking densities in intensive swine production systems predispose pigs to stressors, environmental pathogens, and the spread of respiratory and enteric diseases. As a result, it is estimated that by 2030 the use of antibiotics on farms increases by 11.5%".
The article draws from a research paper published earlier this year entitled Linking Animal Welfare and Antibiotic Use in Pig Farming—A Review which concludes "Farmers are seen as the ultimate people responsible for changing the current AMU [antimicrobial use]. A simplistic and polarised portrait of why pig farmers use antibiotics is that of a neglectful or a protective individual of the welfare of their animals. Today, many farmers report feeling/being powerless to think differently, and if they do, act differently, quoting that economic constraints, production standards or technical advice do not leave room for change. Just as the pigs in their farms, many farmers are surviving the system. Thus, investments needed for any changes must be supported by the industry, consumers, and governments. A call for pig farmers to rationally reduce AMU will succeed or fail pending such external support and structural changes in the network that currently uses antibiotics as a structural material for production, at local, national, and international levels. This means that individual behaviour changes are not enough nor sustainable in the long run. Ultimately, we urgently call for a re-centring of the industry objectives (inclusive of all stakeholders) into the intrinsic values of life (a life worth living) and nature (a place worth living) for all living creatures. The solutions demand leaving behind the conception that feeding the world means intensifying animal production, towards a genuinely sustainable approach where keeping our world means slowing down production".
ESVAC and Group treatments
The 
recently published European Medicines Agency 12th ESVAC report shows that overall aggregated sales of antibiotic Veterinary Medicinal Products (VMPs) for all 31 countries reporting data in 2021 were 84.4 mg/PCU. This represents a 4.9% decrease compared to 2020. Significant reductions are now taking place in many countries. The UK is the 8th lowest user, per livestock unit, out of 31 countries.
Large differences in antibiotic use are found between countries. The lowest users included Norway (2 mg/kg), Iceland (3.6 mg/kg), Sweden (10.9 mg/kg) and Finland (17 mg/kg), whereas the highest users were Cyprus (296.5 mg/kg), Poland (175.5 mg/kg), Italy (173.5 mg/kg), Spain (157.2 mg/kg) and Portugal (149.9 mg/kg).
It is notable in the four lowest using countries, group treatments only account for between 6% and 31% of overall farm antibiotic use, whereas in the five highest-using countries group treatments account for over 90% of their antibiotic use. These large differences in group treatments are unsurprising, since excessively high levels of group treatments tend to suggest that use is not particularly focused on sick animals and is more routine.
Overall, group treatments account for 86.3% of all farm antibiotic use in the 31 countries and for 75.2% in the UK. These figures suggest that large reductions in farm antibiotic use are still achievable in the UK and most of Europe.
References: ESVAC country report. The UK country report
FDA report
The latest US FDA antibiotic sales data report has been published. The report shows that there is no significant reduction in on farm antibiotic use (down by 0.2%), so the US use per PCU is now about 6 times higher than the UK, at around 170 mg/kg. Given the need for global action to reduce on farm use of antibiotics, this is a worrying failure of a country farming a large number of animals to address the mainly intensive farming methods and widespread routine, preventative use of antibiotics.
EFSA concerns over AMR spread via live transport
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a scientific opinion assessing the risk of spread of AMR among poultry, pigs and cattle during transport between farms or to slaughterhouses. EFSA concluded that strategies that would reduce the probability of AMR transmission, for all animal categories include minimising the duration of transport, proper cleaning and disinfection, appropriate transport planning, improving animal health and welfare and/or biosecurity immediately prior to and during transport, ensuring the thermal comfort of the animals and animal segregation.
Potato contamination by Clostridium difficile
A scientific study has found that European potatoes are commonly contaminated by Clostridium difficile. The scientists say their finding could have public health relevance. The most commonly found strain of C. difficile was ribotype 078, which is prevalent in farm animals, mainly pigs, on a global scale. The presence of C. difficile is probably partly due to the use of farm-animal manure. C. difficile has also previously been found in meat and in some other vegetables.
An earlier genetic scientific study found that the intensive use of tetracycline antibiotics in farm animals was linked with the emergence and spread of C. difficile ribotype 078. Ribotype 078 is now a major strain causing infections in humans.
ort with the research results here.
The One Health in Action initiative conducts action-based advocacy programs aimed at promoting the design and operationalization of One Heath frameworks for the control of zoonotic diseases, prevention of antimicrobial resistance and development of sustainable ecosystems. 
Humane Being campaigns to protect the planet, animals and people and encourage more compassionate lifestyles. Humane Being volunteers have lodged a legal challenge as part of their Scrap Factory Farming campaign where they claim the UK Government is failing to protect people from the health risks linked to pandemics, antibiotic resistance and the climate crisis. Our team member Jane, runs Humane Being outside of work and in a voluntary capacity. 
