Farm antibiotic use rarely features on food labels or marketing in the UK, so it’s very hard for shoppers to know how to support farmers who are using less. For whole meat and butchered cuts, there are some rules of thumb for the conscious shopper:
- Buy British – overall, British farmers are making reasonable progress on reducing antibiotic use. (Although more so in beef, dairy, chicken and eggs and slightly less so in pork. The two countries from which the UK imports the most pig meat – Denmark and the Netherlands – use only about a third of the British antibiotic use per head.)
- Buy higher welfare – animals reared in healthier conditions tend to be more naturally resistant to disease, so are less likely to need medication – look for free-range, RSPCAassured, pasture-fed and certified organic
- Buy organic – this is the only certified system that explicitly limits farm antibiotic use and requires farmers to use other methods to prevent and treat disease
- Be careful of “antibiotic-free” claims. Some animals need to be treated with antibiotics and there may be welfare issues – find out more about the farm.
However, many of us don’t buy meat in its whole form, nor in butchered cuts. Much of the meat eaten in this country is served to us by somebody else. With minimal provenance information appearing on most menus, it is almost impossible for a consumer to judge the antibiotics status of the meat in their curry, ready meal, pub lunch, hospital meal or school dinner. The best you can do is to look for higher welfare and organic and to say that you are concerned. Some larger catering companies, restaurant chains and wholesalers might be prepared to adopt a policy. You could also ask smaller food outlets if they have an antibiotics policy – though realistically, farm antibiotics awareness is likely to be very low. Encourage them to get involved in a group looking at such issues, such as the Sustainable Restaurant Association.
With limited opportunity for shoppers to buy antibiotics-friendly meat, dairy and eggs, probably the most important thing that we can all do is to make our voices heard – especially with those in the position to make change happen at scale. If you’re concerned about farm antibiotic use, then please consider the following.
Tell your supermarket you want them to get their meat, dairy and egg suppliers – British and overseas – to ban “prophylactic” (just-in-case) antibiotic use, to reduce their antibiotic use overall, and routinely to provide data on progress. Ask your supermarket routinely to publish data on antibiotic across their meat, dairy and egg supply chains, as Asda, M&S, Waitrose and the Co-op have already done. Tell them you want them to participate in a national and healthy “race to the top” on phasing out profligate use of farm antibiotics.
Participate in action to let UK trade secretary Liam Fox and UK agriculture secretary Michael Gove know that they must consider protection of antibiotics when they negotiate international trade deals. Some countries use farm antibiotics at many times the level of British farmers, for example five times as much in the US. Trade deals for antibiotic-intensive cheap meat risk undermining the good work of British farmers.
From: Sustain and the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics
