The BIJ looked at genetic sequences from bacteria responsible for the outbreak and found that most were resistant to fluoroquinolones and in some instances, samples were also found to be resistant to multiple drugs, making infections even more difficult to treat. In 2020, EU and UK authorities identified SuperDrob meat plants and farms as the main source of the UK salmonella outbreak that infected more than 400 people. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. For more information see our Privacy Policy. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. The Polish chief veterinary inspectorate said the prophylactic – or preventive – use of antibiotics was not common practice in Poland. SuperDrob said its policies did not permit the use of antibiotics for prophylactic purposes and such behaviour was also prohibited for SuperDrob’s suppliers. Tim Walsh, a professor of medical microbiology at Oxford University, said he believed there had been a failure at an EU level to monitor antibiotic use in Poland, and that the country’s soaring sales of high-priority antibiotics should have raised alarm bells.īut the European Commission said that measures taken in Poland since a UK salmonella outbreak in 2020, including improved biosecurity on farms and better hygiene in meat plants, had resulted in a reduction of salmonella contaminations.Īlthough fluoroquinolone antibiotics are legal to use on chicken farms in the UK and EU under veterinary supervision, their use is now tightly controlled by regulators and they are not allowed to be used preventively on healthy animals. It said: “Where there is a veterinary need for medical treatment, then it is used under the supervision of veterinarians.” The company also said it was reducing the use of fluoroquinolone antibiotics and would phase them out by 2025. SuperDrob said the drugs were in use, but that it had firm policies in place to ensure they were only used when justified. There is nothing unlawful about this but testing undertaken by the BIJ, overseen by an Oxford University academic, in May discovered bacteria resistant to fluoroquinolones in samples of waste collected from a number of Polish poultry farms that are understood to have supplied SuperDrob. Three sources, including a farmer who supplies chicken to SuperDrob and a vet who serves supplying farms, confirmed that fluoroquinolone antibiotics were being used, according to interviews conducted by the BIJ. SuperDrob is one of Poland’s leading poultry producers and more than 50% of its revenue is from exports. The WHO classifies both as critically important for human health. Data shows even larger increases in the sales of colistin, a last-resort drug used to treat serious infections that have not responded to other medicines. Sales of fluoroquinolones have increased by more than 70% in the country. Yet it appears that the use of drugs critical for human health on farms in Poland, Europe’s biggest producer of poultry meat, has soared in recent years. To reduce the risk of superbug outbreaks, the EU tightened up laws about the use of antibiotics on farms last year. There are growing concerns that farmers giving these critically important antibiotics to their animals may contribute to the problem. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria – known as “superbugs” – are a growing threat to human health, leading to an estimated 1.2 million deaths globally in 2019. Giving antibiotics to animals has come under increasing scrutiny, as scientists highlight the risks of potentially lethal bacteria developing antibiotic resistance, meaning drugs may no longer work to treat human infections.
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