Food safety provider Acoura has told consumers not to fear antibiotic resistant superbugs in British red meat.
This comes following a recent report by the UK Review on Antimicrobial Resistance warning that superbugs could be passed on to consumers eating undercooked red meat. The report suggests there is a danger antibiotic-resistant bacteria may be present in red meat due to overuse of antibiotics in livestock farming.
Acoura believe, however, that the risk in the UK is extremely low due to the limited use of antibiotics in the supply chain.
Tim Bailey, a qualified vet and Acoura’s managing director for Agriculture and Food Processing Sectors said: “Routine use of antibiotics in beef and lamb production just doesn’t exist here in the UK and it would be extremely misleading for anyone to suggest our livestock are being pumped full of unnecessary drugs. Safeguarding animal welfare through preventative use of antibiotics is of course necessary, and pigs during weaning take a small amount of essential antibiotics, but these instances aside, use is highly restricted.
“Leading quality assurance schemes such as Red Tractor and Quality Meat Scotland strictly monitor farmers and limit the use of antibiotics so that there aren’t any issues with overuse in our supply chain. In addition to these restrictions, the EU has specific laws which prohibit the use of drugs to achieve weight gain or other perceived benefits.
“Eating high quality, farm assured British meat which has been cooked correctly should carry with it minimal risk of superbug infections – so consumers should not be concerned with scare stories arising from this report.
“That said, I would agree that there is a need for other countries, where legislation and farming practices are less developed to limit the use of antibiotics in an effort to help ensure there is less chance of issues developing.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
