Study Shows Decrease in Poultry Antibiotics Use

A new report on antimicrobial use in broiler chicken and turkey farms shows antibiotics use has decreased from 93% to 17% since 2013. The U.S. Poultry and Egg Association announced the findings as part of its commitment to transparency and sustainability.  The report represents a five-year data set, collected between 2013 and 2017.

The report shows that medically important in-feed antimicrobial use in broiler chickens decreased by as much as 95%. The findings also show there was a documented shift to the use of antimicrobial drugs that are not considered medically important to humans. Meanwhile, Turkeys receiving antimicrobials in the hatchery decreased from 96% to 41%.  The report attributes the shift to changes in Food and Drug Administration regulations which were fully implemented in January 2017.

The changes effectively eliminated the use of medically important antimicrobials for production purposes and placed all medically important antimicrobials administered in the feed or water of poultry under veterinary supervision.

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