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Rising demand for antibiotic-free poultry prompts search for alternative disease-control methods
Pressure to minimize or eliminate the use of antibiotics in food animals is intensifying. Whether poultry producers agree with the trend or not, more of them are being prompted to find alternative methods of managing intestinal infections in their flocks. The trend is expected to escalate and is driven by concern that the use of certain antibiotics in food animals, articularly antibiotics that are also used in humans, may lead to antibiotic-resistant infections in people.Pressure to minimize or eliminate the use of antibiotics in food animals is intensifying.
Whether poultry producers agree with the trend or not, more of them are being prompted
to find alternative methods of managing intestinal infections in their flocks.
The trend is expected to escalate and is driven by concern that the use of certain
antibiotics in food animals, particularly antibiotics that are also used in humans, may lead
to antibiotic-resistant infections in people.
The environmental impact of using antibiotics in feed animals has also garnered attention in recent years. Colorado State University researchers showed that ionophore drugs are getting into public waterways. Ionophores are not used in people, but they are given to poultry to control the parasitic disease coccidiosis and to cattle as antibiotic growth promoters.
In the study, the ionophore monensin was found only at sample sites near agricultural regions. A significantly greater concentration of three ionophore drugs was found in sediment compared to overlying water. The levels found were below safe concentrations for aquatic life and humans, but the results raise questions about whether antibiotics can accumulate in sediment and potentially impact stream health, the researchers concluded.
Concern about antibiotic resistance in humans has already led European regulators to ban the use of several in-feed antibiotics in food animals. In the United States, legislators, backed by several leading medical organizations, have proposed similar action with The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, which would prohibit the use of several non-therapeutic antibiotics in food animals.
Organic market soars
Most pressure to eliminate the use of in-feed antibiotics in the United States, however, comes not from regulators but from consumers and is evidenced by the growth in sales of organic poultry. Consider the following information from sources such as the Organic Trade Association and the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture:
- Organic poultry in the United States, which must be raised without antibiotics to carry an “organic” label, saw an explosive 1,000% increase in production between 1997 and 2003.
- The number of organic broiler chickens in the United States rose from about
38,000 in 1997 to over 6 million in 2003, representing a percentage increase of over 16,000%. - Poultry is the fastest growing meat product in the U.S. organic market, with a
market size estimated to be around $46 million and annual growth estimated to be 33% through 2008. - Whole Foods Market, one of the world’s largest organic foods retailers, found in a 2004 survey that more people are eating organic products primarily because organic foods are considered to be better for their health and for the environment.
Changing paradigms
Conventional poultry producers as well as major purchasers of chicken have taken note of the natural food trend. In January 2006, USA Today reported that Tyson Foods, Gold Kist, Perdue Farms and Foster Farms — four of the nation’s top 10 chicken producers — had stopped using in-feed antibiotic growth promoters, although they still use antibiotics to treat disease outbreaks in chickens.
Major buyers of chicken, such as McDonalds, only purchase chicken from suppliers that do not use in-feed antibiotics or antibiotics that are used in people. At Bon Appétit Management Co., the fourth-largest US food service company, the policy is to buy poultry that has never received any antibiotic, even for disease prevention, according to the USA Today article.
It is clear that the trend toward antibiotic-free poultry production is gaining momentum, which poses challenges to producers who must find new, cost-effective ways to control infectious disease in their flocks.
One viable solution for infectious disease control is vaccination, which can be safe for birds and enables them to build immunity naturally against infections. Clostridium perfringens type A toxoid, a vaccine for control of necrotic enteritis, is one such product. When coupled with Coccivac®-B live coccidiosis vaccine, it can help poultry producers manage the two most important causes of intestinal infection in broiler chickens, reduce or eliminate the use of antibiotics and at the same time maintain good performance among their flocks.
