First Study Shows Less Antibiotic-Resistance on Organic Farms

A new study suggests that removing antibiotic use from large-scale US poultry farms can result in immediate and significant reductions in antibiotic resistance for some bacteria.

Antibiotic use in conventional animal food production in the US has created public health concern because it has been shown to contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can potentially spread to humans.

The study, led by Dr Amy R. Sapkota of the University of Maryland School of Public Health, provides data demonstrating that poultry farms that have transferred from conventional to organic practices and ceased using antibiotics have significantly lower levels of drug-resistant enterococci bacteria.

The possible effects of genetic modification (GM) of food-producing animals on their health and welfare as well as food safety form the focus of a new consultation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

In its guidance document, EFSA outlines specific data requirements and the methodology to be followed for risk assessment should applications for food and feed derived from GM animals be submitted for market authorisation in the European Union. The risk assessment approach compares GM animals and derived food and feed with their respective conventional counterparts integrating both food and feed safety as well as animal health and welfare aspects. Stakeholders and interested parties are invited to provide their comments through an online public consultation that runs until 30 September 2011.

Finally, turning to bird flu, a Dutch study has found that culling is more effective than vaccination to control the disease in poultry.

Vaccinating chickens within a radius of 3km of an infected farm may at first appear to be cheaper.

However, it is less effective because the epidemic spreads further and lasts longer than the practice of culling on farms within a radius of one to three kilometres of infected farms, according to the study performed by LEI together with the Central Veterinary Institute (CVI), both part of Wageningen UR.

From South Africa in the last week, it has been reported that routine surveillance has revealed H5N2 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) at nine more commercial ostrich farms, all in the Western Cape.

In human terms, there was good news as the only case reported this week – a six-year-old Egyptian girl – has recovered after hospital treatment. WHO reports that there have been 48 reported cases of H5N1 flu in humans so far this year, 24 of whom died. These are the same totals reported for the whole of 2010.