Concerns regarding potential Brexit trade deals to secure supplies and food following the country's deadline on December 31 have sprung up again after a report by the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics found that future deals could jeopardise both British farming and public health.
Livestock cows feeding. Credit: Roman Melnyk / Shutterstock
Credit: Roman Melnyk / Shutterstock
The 'Farm Antibiotics and Trade Deals' report shows that several primary candidates for trade in a post-Brexit world, such as the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia allow farmers to routinely feed antibiotics to livestock to aid growth.
Rearing livestock in this way significantly reduces the costs of keeping them as they grow far quicker and can be kept in overcrowded conditions.
The report found that the US and Canada's farm feeding levels are roughly five times higher than those found in the UK. In the US, levels tend to clock in at around seven times higher than the UK, with pigs coming in at twice these national levels.
The report also suggests that farm antibiotic sales have increased across the board since 2010 in all of these countries, with an annual increase of 9% in 2018 for the US and 6% for Canada.
In contrast, farm antibiotic rates have fallen in the EU in recent years, with a nearly 50% drop between 2014 and 2018, although sales increased by 5% in 2019. In most countries, antibiotic use is lower than the UK but dwarfed by the US.
The report hints that relying on cheaper meat from these nations could risk increasing antibiotic resistance being spread via the food chain, which could cause a public health crisis.
The UK government last month agreed to set up an examining body to look into food standards as the country prepares to leave the EU. The body is set to advise on potential food trade deals going into the future.
Read more: MPs Reject Food Standards Bill For Post-Brexit Food Standards
The US has previously faced criticism over its food standards after a study concluded at least 14% of poultry and 15% of turkey products contained traces of salmonella, and as many as 90% of some meat products contained traces of E.coli.
The UK had also previously skipped plans to place an import ban on US-based chlorinated chicken earlier this year.
There are still concerns these deals could flood the UK food market with cheap food products.
British farmers risk being undercut by international competition, which could prompt them to adopting the same standard to compete. This could lead to a domino effect which could significantly reduce food standards in the UK across the board.
Cóilín Nunan, scientific adviser to the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, told The Guardian: “Antibiotic resistance is a global problem, and we need to raise standards around the world to prevent it increasing. These free-trade agreements need to take that into account.”
Consuming these treated food products could allow bacteria to develop immunities to common antibiotics which could make it more difficult for people to fight disease or increase the risk of infection following life-saving surgeries.
Levels of antibiotic use in farming have been falling for the last five years in the UK and new EU regulation due to come into effect in 2022 will ban the import of meat treated routinely with antibiotics for growth. It is unknown whether the UK will adopt a similar policy.
Antibiotics as growth promoters have been banned in the UK and EU since January 1 2006, and made prescription-only, regardless of whether or not they are being used for public health reasons. Use of antibiotics as a growth promoter in cattle has been banned since 1987.
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The government have issued a statement on the matter claiming they will not allow for food standards to fall in the wake of Brexit.
A spokesperson said: “This government has been clear that we will not compromise on our world-leading environmental protections, animal welfare and food standards.
“The UK already prohibits the use of artificial growth hormones in both domestic production and imported products – and this will continue after the transition period. We will also continue to operate robust controls on the medicines that can be used for all animals, including food-producing ones, to protect animal and human health and the environment.”
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