Page 39 of articles about antimicrobial

EU animal welfare rules must be more rigorously enforced, with more inspections and effective penalties, said the Agriculture Committee. It nonetheless welcomed a reduction in harmful antibiotics in animal feed, further to an EU ban.

The use of antibiotics in livestock decreased by 2% in 2009 compared to the previous year, while at the same time the bovine, porcine and poultry populations increased by 2%, 1.3% and 0.2%, respectively. In 2008, the use of antibiotics had already decreased by 7% compared to 2007.

The Danish Food Minister, Eva Kjer Hansen, wants to introduce a ”yellow card”-scheme on vets and farmers who use too many antibiotics.

Resistance to antibiotics in animals in Danish herds may become a problem over time for the health of both animals and humans. The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries has therefore funded DKK 11 million (corresponding 1,5 million euro) to two comprehensive research projects with the purpose to develope new ways of combating resistant bacteria in animals.

COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 37/2010 of 22 December 2009 on pharmacologically active substances and their classification regarding maximum residue limits in foodstuffs of animal origin.

The DFG has approved the establishment of 17 new Collaborative Research Centres as of 1 January 2010. This decision was made recently by the relevant Grants Committee in Bonn. The new centres will initially be funded for four years with a total of €132 million. In addition, 20 percent overhead funding for indirect costs will also be provided for each project. The new CRCs include the development of an antibiotic-free diet for swine.

MRSA spreads throughout the Dutch intensive livestock farming sectors. Among pig farms, 68.3% of 202 farms tested positive for MRSA.

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has launched a simple and effective 8-point plan for the responsible use of antimicrobials in veterinary practice.

The European Commission presents today a staff working paper that aims to be the basis of discussion on the ways to better tackle the growing health problem of anti-microbial resistance (AMR).

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) and the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) have published a joint scientific opinion on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) focused on infections transmitted to humans from animals and food (zoonoses).

The American Academy of Microbiology convened a colloquium October 12-14, 2008, to discuss antibiotic resistance and the factors that infl uence the development and spread of resistance.

Institute for Food Safety and the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry and Colloid Science, both part of Wageningen UR, have developed a new, real-time test to detect antibiotics in the food chain.