How can antibiotic use in food animals contribute to antibiotic resistance?

In livestock farming, the widespread use of antibiotics contributes to antibiotic resistance primarily through subtherapeutic dosing.12

When antibiotics are administered in low doses to healthy animals to promote growth or improve feed efficiency, the drugs do not completely eradicate bacterial populations. This environment allows surviving bacteria to develop resistance, which then forces the need for new antibiotics in both veterinary medicine and human healthcare.12

The risks associated with this practice include:

• Environmental Spread: Antibiotic-resistant bacteria can persist in manure, which is often used as fertilizer, leading to higher levels of resistant bacteria in the soil.1
• Human Exposure: The routine use of these drugs introduces low levels of antibiotics into the human food supply.1
• Public Health Threat: The World Health Organization identifies this as a serious threat to global public health, as it undermines the efficacy of medically important antibiotics used to treat bacterial diseases in humans.1

Ethically, prioritizing the long-term efficacy of life-saving medicine over short-term agricultural growth gains is essential to protecting global health.1