Judicious use and stewardship of antibiotics in the poultry industry

Concerns over the impact of antibiotic resistant bacteria in human medicine have focused more attention on how antibiotics are used to treat food producing livestock and poultry. In response to consumer and activists requests, food service giants in the U.S. like McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, Subway and others have made pledges to purchase only poultry products coming from birds that either have never been treated with antibiotics or have not been treated with medically important antibiotics.
Poultry integrators are changing production practices to meet the demands of the marketplace in the U.S. Poultry growers, nutritionists and veterinarians are being challenged to raise birds using fewer antibiotics while still maintaining good performance and welfare without increasing food safety concerns.
WATT Global Media will host a panel discussion of poultry industry veterinarians at the International Production and Processing Expo in Atlanta to talk about what has been learned by integrators who have reduced or eliminated antibiotic use in some aspects of their operations and what challenges they still face. Dr. Bruce Stewart-Brown, vice president of food safety and quality, Perdue Farms, and Dr. Brian Wooming, senior staff veterinarian, Cargill Turkey Products are already confirmed as panelists.
Some topics that will be discussed:

• How do you maintain bird welfare in a reduced antibiotics program?
• Can you remove antibiotics from the hatchery without increasing 7-day mortality?
• Are there limits to antibiotic-free production that marketers should know?

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Judicious use and stewardship of antibiotics in the poultry industry
Hosted by WATT Global Media and sponsored by DuPont
Wednesday January 27, 7:30 – 9:00 a.m.
Georgia World Congress Center Room B 314
Register for this free event.

New Zealand aims to stop animal antibiotic use by 2030

The veterinary profession in New Zealand is reducing its reliance on antibiotic use in animal agriculture, and has aimed to phase out the use of all antibiotics by 2030.
Dr. Steve Merchant, president of the New Zealand Veterinary Association, said that by that year, the country will not need antibiotics for the maintenance of animal health and wellness.
“With sharply increasing levels of resistance to antibiotics worldwide, we want animals and, by extension, humans to enter the ‘post-antibiotic’ era as safely as possible,” Merchant said.
Merchant said this is a significant undertaking, requiring considerable teamwork and commitment from the veterinary profession, working with the medical, scientific, government and relevant primary industry sectors.
“Given the wide acceptance that the future for antibiotics is limited, and the close links between animals, humans and the environment we share, achieving this goal is essential. New Zealand is well suited to this challenge; given our size, proximity of the various specialities and relevant industry sectors, and already low use of antibiotics,” said Merchant.
Merchant said in order to make the transition a success, a collaborative effort involving changes in attitudes and behaviors from veterinarians, researchers, government officials, human health professionals and pharmaceutical companies. Veterinarians will use and advocate for careful antibacterial management and monitoring based on responsible use of existing antibiotics as they work with industry partners to jointly test and develop the necessary alternatives.

Canada funds research for poultry antibiotic alternative

The Canadian government is investing CA$400,000 (US$313,900) for the development of a technology that would provide an alternative to antibiotics in poultry production.
Michelle Rempel, minister of state for Canada’s Western Economic Diversification, announced the funding on July 14. The investment will enable the University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) to develop and commercialize a novel technology that delivers an immunity-boosting aerosol protectant to chickens as an alternative to antibiotics.
This project supports a multi-regional partnership with poultry farms based in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and engages highly qualified personnel in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia as well as industry associations from both Alberta and Saskatchewan.
“The poultry industry is a major force within the Canadian economy. Our government is proud to support the University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine in developing an alternative to antibiotics that will address a significant productivity issue for the poultry industry,” Rempel said.
Karen Chad, vice president of research at the University of Saskatchewan welcomed the announcement.
“Based on years of research, U of S veterinary pathologist Dr. Susantha Gomis and his collaborators have developed an innovative idea for treating bacterial infections in chickens that will provide Canadian poultry producers with another effective tool in their flock health kit,” Chad said. “It’s exciting research that will have significant impact in strengthening Canada’s agriculture industry.”

Perdue now raising half its chickens without antibiotics

Less than a year after eliminating the routine use of human antibiotics in its chicken production, Perdue Farms has announced it is now raising more than half its chickens with no antibiotics of any kind - human or animal.
"We believe consumers are concerned about the use of all antibiotics, not just some. Through our No Antibiotics Ever chickens, we want to give them a choice that carries transparency and confidence," said Chairman Jim Perdue. 
Chicken companies typically use antibiotics four ways: human antibiotics are injected into the egg in the hatchery. Human antibiotics can also be put into the feed for faster growth promotion. Human antibiotics can also be mixed with the water or feed to treat or prevent disease. The fourth way is to use animal-only antibiotics.
"We completely eliminated the first two uses in September of 2014, and have improved the way we raise chickens so that 96 percent of our flocks never require treatment with a human antibiotic," explained Bruce Stewart Brown, DVM, Perdue's senior vice president of food safety, quality and live production. "However, we didn't stop there. We're going to continue to reduce our use of animal-only antibiotics, so that we're raising as many chickens as we can with no antibiotics of any kind - and offering that choice to consumers."


More Perdue No Antibiotics Ever products offered
To support this goal, the company has brought a full range of no-antibiotics-ever chicken products into mainline distribution under the Perdue name. 
The company's introduction of fresh, no-antibiotics-ever chicken under the Perdue Simply Smart label adds to the existing line of frozen fully cooked and fresh fully cooked ready-to-eat Perdue Simply Smart products. The company's Harvestland label, which was recently rebranded as Perdue Harvestland, remains the most-widely distributed brand of no-antibiotics-ever chicken, turkey and pork. Perdue Perfect Portions boneless chicken products, which created an entirely new category of fresh chicken, has also moved to "No Antibiotics Ever."
"Since Perdue eliminated the routine use of human antibiotics, other poultry companies have responded with a confusing array of promises: consumers aren't sure what they're buying," said Eric Christianson, senior vice president of marketing and innovation. "Our Perdue No Antibiotics Ever products give consumers who want chicken raised without any antibiotics a clear choice - one that's available right now, not months or years away."


Perdue consumer information campaign launched
To further educate consumers, the company is launching a new consumer information campaign around its Perdue No Antibiotics Ever products. The campaign, created by the VIA Agency in Portland, Maine, kicked off on July 8, with a series of six new national television ad spots that highlight Perdue's high-quality chicken and celebrates the peace of mind consumers have when serving their family chicken that is raised with absolutely no antibiotics ever. 
"The new campaign will raise awareness about Perdue's commitment to providing consumers with the highest quality and best products for the dinner table - ones that include no antibiotics ever," said Dan Bailin, group strategy director at The VIA Agency. "What's important about this campaign is that Jim Perdue is making that pledge directly to the audience - a promise that's very personal for him." 
Perdue now offers more than 100 no-antibiotics-ever chicken products, plus a growing line of no-antibiotics-ever turkey and pork.

UW-Madison startup offers antibiotic alternative

A University of Wisconsin-Madison animal scientist has developed an antibiotic-free method to protect animals raised for food against common infections.
The innovation comes as growing public concern about antibiotic resistance has induced McDonald's, Tyson Foods and other industry giants to announce major cuts in antibiotic use in meat production. About 80 percent of antibiotics in the United States are used by farmers, because they both protect against disease and accelerate weight gain in many farm animals.
The overuse of antibiotics in agriculture and medicine has created a public health crisis of drug-resistant infections, such as multidrug resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and "flesh-eating bacteria."
"You really can't control the bugs forever; they will always evolve a way to defeat your drugs," says Mark Cook, a professor of animal sciences and entrepreneur.
Cook's current work focuses on a fundamental immune "off-switch" called Interleukin 10 or IL-10, manipulated by bacteria and many other pathogens to defeat the immune system during infection. He and animal sciences associate researcher Jordan Sand have learned to disable this switch inside the intestine, the site of major farm animal infections such as the diarrheal disease coccidiosis.
Cook vaccinates laying hens to create antibodies to IL-10. The hens put the antibody in eggs that are then sprayed on the feed of the animals he wants to protect. The antibody neutralizes the IL-10 off-switch in those animals, allowing their immune systems to better fight disease.
In experiments with 300,000 chickens, those that ate the antibody-bearing material were fully protected against coccidiosis.
Smaller tests with larger animals also show promise. Dan Schaefer, a professor of animal science, and his graduate research assistant, Mitch Schaefer, halved the rate of bovine respiratory disease in beef steers by feeding them the IL-10 antibody for 14 days.
"That's a very enticing early result," Dan Schaefer says. "Bovine respiratory disease is the number one health risk for feeder cattle coming into a confinement situation." He is planning a larger trial in collaboration with colleagues at other universities.
In a test in newborn dairy calves, Sheila McGuirk, a professor of medical sciences at the School of Veterinary Medicine, found less than half as much respiratory disease among calves that ate the antibody for 10 days compared to those that did not. The treated calves also showed less shedding of Cryptosporidium parvum, a protozoa that causes diarrhea, although the trend was not statistically significant.
"These diseases cause long-term reproduction, production and growth impairments in livestock," says McGuirk. "The affected animals are suboptimal in health, performance and profitability. To have something affordable, safe and nonantibiotic that controls these very important diseases is absolutely awesome. We are eager to study this further."
In the past few years, scientists have learned that a large group of pathogens — including bacteria, single- and multicelled parasites, protozoa, even certain viruses — make a chemical called macrophage migratory inhibition factor, or MIF, which activates the IL-10 mechanism to shut down the host animal's immune system. "This apparently arose deep in the evolutionary past, and it's wholesale piracy of the immune system," says Sand.
"People have manipulated the immune system for decades, but we are doing it in the gut. Nobody has done that before," Cook says.
Cook and Sand, who have been working on the IL-10 system since 2011, are forming Ab E Discovery LLC to commercialize their research. One of the four patents they have filed through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has just been granted, and WARF has awarded a $100,000 Accelerator Program grant to the inventors to pursue the antibiotic-replacement technology.
Cook previously founded Isomark LLC, which is developing a technology for early detection of infection in human breath.
The benefits of reducing farm usage of antibiotics should extend to workers' families and the wider population. Significantly more people working in conventional chicken farms carry multidrug-resistant pathogens than those who work in antibiotic-free farms, Sand notes.
A nonantibiotic method to prevent pathogens from shutting down the immune system seems far less conducive to resistance than the current routine feeding of antibiotics, Cook says. "We are not focused on the pathogens. We are focused on what they are trying to do to the immune system. We are getting encouraging data from dairy and beef. We have conducted experiments involving 300,000 chickens in commercial farms, half receiving the product. We know it works. The market is interested, and now it's a matter of making a product."

Foster Farms antibiotic-free turkey coming soon

Foster Farms is planning the launch of antibiotic-free (ABF) turkey products, with hopes of having the new products available well in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday.
The news of Foster Farms' plans to raise and market ABF turkey comes on the heels of Foster Farms’ release of new lines of antibiotic-free and organic chicken, as well as the company’s participation in the White House Forum on Antibiotic Stewardship. The forthcoming offering of antibiotic-free turkey is just part of the company’s commitment to responding to consumer wishes for more poultry raised without antibiotics.
“We are bringing out antibiotic-free whole turkeys in the fall, probably around September or so,” said Ira Brill, communications director for Foster Farms.
Brill did not release many more details about the company’s upcoming ABF turkey offerings, but he added that Foster Farms had been actively raising turkeys without antibiotics. So much of the industry’s focus had been on antibiotic-free chicken, largely because consumers purchase a higher volume of chicken, Brill said. However, consumers are just as interested in an antibiotic-free turkey product, so Foster Farms wants to fill that niche.


Presidential turkey to be raised without antibiotics
Adding to Foster Farms’ excitement about its upcoming release of ABF turkey products is the fact that the 2015 National Thanksgiving Turkey to be presented to President Barack Obama and his family will be raised without antibiotics.
The honor of raising the National Thanksgiving Turkey is bestowed upon the chairman of the National Turkey Federation. This year’s chairman is Jihad Douglas, president of Aviagen Turkeys. Douglas asked Foster Farms to raise the Presidential Turkey on Aviagen's behalf, according to Brill.
Foster Farms also raised the 2010 presidential turkey.


Demographics and demand for antibiotic-free poultry
Foster Farms is headquartered in California and most of its distribution is along the West Coast, Brill said. He added that the largest demand for antibiotic-free poultry is both on the West Coast and the East Coast.
However, the age of a consumer also has a lot to do with preference for ABF products. Foster Farms on June 3 released the results of a study, conducted earlier in 2015, that showed that members of the Millennial generation were a driving force behind the ABF movement.
The survey revealed that while availability and pricing are cited as potential challenges, nearly one third of Millennial respondents consider “organic” or “no antibiotics” to be the most important factor in choosing fresh poultry. The survey of 1,872 West Coast Millennial parents further found that once Millennials have children, traditional family values and peer influence are primary factors that affect everything from grocery purchases to cooking and consumption habits.
The survey also showed that 79 percent of Millennial parents surveyed agreed that they are much more concerned about antibiotics and ingredients used to produce food than their parents’ generation.


About the new Foster Farms chicken products
Foster Farms on June 1 announced the release of two new brands that embrace antibiotic-free and organic production – Foster Farms Organic and Foster Farms Simply Raised antibiotic-free chicken.
“When you look at the Foster Farms brand, we’ve essentially divided it up into three distinct product lines,” said Brill.
Foster Farms Fresh and Natural, the company’s pre-existing brand, will continue to have no added hormones or steroids. However, antibiotics can still be administered when needed to the chickens raised for this brand.
Foster Farms Organic is a certified organic brand from free-range chickens that are fed an organic vegetarian diet with no antibiotics.
Foster Farms Simply Raised is produced with no added antibiotics, hormones or steroids ever, and is fed a 100 percent vegetarian diet.
Foster Farms had previously produced organic and ABF chicken for retail partners, but this will be the first time it will market ABF and organic chicken under its own label.
All three brands are American Humane Certified.
 “The key thing with the marketplace at this time is offering the consumer choice. I think our policy has been to respond to the concerns about the use of human antibiotics. But we’ve also got to look at the marketplace and recognize at this point that the actual number of consumers that are buying organic and ABF products is probably around 20 percent,” said Brill. “What we think by offering choice, we are allowing consumers to make the decision, but at the same time, ensuring that the antibiotics that are of the most concern -- which are the ones used in human medicine -- can keep working.”
Foster Farms will continue to produce some of its poultry with the use of antibiotics, because the company realizes that antibiotics are still a useful tool in maintaining bird health. Foster Farms also knows that ABF production is more expensive than poultry production using antibiotics, and that not all consumers are willing to pay a premium for ABF chicken.
“What we’re dealing with is trying to balance human health, bird health, affordability and accessibility of the product. If we err in any direction, then we’re not serving the consumer well,” Brill said.
Brill said while certain West Coast plants will be designated for the processing of its ABF and Organic poultry, no plant is expected to exclusively process one particular brand. 

AVMA welcomes release of federal ruling on use of antibiotics in food animals

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has applauded the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its release of the Veterinary Feed Directive final rule, which will cement veterinary oversight of medically important antibiotics used in feed for food animals, ensuring the protection of animal health and welfare as well as food safety and public health. The AVMA’s early and ongoing collaboration with the FDA has helped ensure that the rule is practical and in the best interests of animal health, public health and the veterinary profession.
The FDA, according to AVMA Chief Executive Officer Dr. Ron DeHaven, has worked hard to expedite the process, which will help veterinarians and food producers around the country as they prepare for the 2017 implementation of widespread changes in how antibiotics are used in food-animal production.
“The veterinary feed directive (VFD) is integral to the implementation of the guidance documents, and we are pleased to have had the opportunity to provide valuable input into the regulation. This is a great example of how collaboration by the FDA with stakeholders has brought about meaningful improvements and a successful outcome,” DeHaven said. “Antibiotic resistance is a threat that the veterinary profession takes very seriously, and that’s why the nation’s veterinarians have been, and remain, engaged with the FDA and food producers to ensure that livestock are healthy and that our food supply stays safe by overseeing the use of antibiotics to ensure appropriate use.”
The VFD mandates how medically important antibiotics given to food animals are to be used and distributed to producers. Through the VFD, producers must obtain veterinary approval prior to using medicated feeds containing medically important antibiotics. The VFD final rule contains a provision related to the veterinarian-client-patient relationship (VCPR) that the AVMA considers to be particularly critical. The provision states that veterinarians must follow state laws related to the VCPR provided that the state’s VCPR requirements are applicable to the VFD. Otherwise, veterinarians must meet the criteria for the federally defined VCPR to issue an order for a VFD drug.
“This provision, which the AVMA fully supports, provides for both flexibility and consistency in how veterinarians and food producers can work in accordance with both the letter and the spirit of the FDA guidance,” DeHaven said. “This is really a milestone in the antimicrobial resistance strategy. Veterinary oversight is critical to ensuring appropriate judicious use, and this provision provides clarity to those who will be responsible for it.”
The AVMA worked closely with state veterinary medical associations to alert the states on the need for a VCPR requirement at the state level to ensure that veterinary oversight would be clearly mandated at every level when the VFD process is fully implemented.
“When state VCPRs complement federal regulations, everyone wins; it strengthens and supports the goals of the program to ensure healthy animals, a safe food supply and the reduction of antibiotic resistance,” DeHaven said. “Whether it’s for use in people or animals, the nation’s veterinarians support the judicious use of antibiotics to prevent, control, and treat diseases. Veterinarians want to help ensure that antibiotics remain an important part of preventing and treating diseases in both humans and animals.”
The AVMA is reviewing the entire contents of the final rule and will be submitting official comment to it.
For more information on antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance, visit the AVMA’s web site at avma.org/antibioticuse.

Chicken Council supports responsible antibiotic use, veterinary oversight

National Chicken Council Senior Vice President of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, Ashley Peterson, Ph.D., joined more than 150 animal and human health stakeholders at a "White House Forum on Antibiotic Stewardship" in Washington, DC on June 2.
Peterson delivered the following remarks at the forum:
"Our members, consisting of chicken processors and producers, and allied industry leaders, work together to provide approximately 95 percent of the chicken on America's tables. Chicken producers share the concern and desire to preserve antibiotic effectiveness in both human and animal medicine.
"The top priority of farmers and chicken companies is to raise healthy chickens because healthy chickens are directly related to a safe and wholesome food supply. Responsible, FDA-approved veterinary treatment and prevention benefits animal welfare and health by reducing the need for increased doses of shared-class antibiotics in the event of widespread disease.
"The vast majority of the antibiotics that we use are never used in human medicine. The majority are from a class called ionophores which are used in animals only and are critically important to chicken producers to maintain the gut health of our birds.
"Our industry supports FDA Guidance 209 and 213, and we recognize the responsibility of the industry to implement the recommendations to phase out the use of medically-important antibiotics for growth promotion. All of our member companies are already eliminating their use for growth promotion and most are moving far in advance of regulatory deadlines for compliance. We also support FDA's Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD), finalized today, as veterinary oversight is important to continued success. Today, all chicken farms are under a health program designed by a licensed veterinarian.
"We are in the business of providing choice in the marketplace, without compromising the health and welfare of our birds or the safety of our products. The chicken industry has been a leader in proactively and voluntarily taking steps toward finding alternative ways to control disease while reducing antibiotic use. Approximately one-third of broiler chicken companies currently produce chicken raised without antibiotics and/or organic chicken products. Many of our members have already made or are making stewardship commitments. We believe this trend will continue. Finding ways to raise chickens without antibiotics is the latest example of an industry committed to innovation. But we can't do that alone; we will continue to partner with animal health companies, veterinarians, our farmers, the FDA and the White House to achieve our shared goals.
"A primary focus of our industry is the welfare of our flocks and we need effective tools to keep them healthy – including, and in addition to, antibiotics to make this happen. True success is determined by a decrease in resistance and ensuring the effectiveness of antibiotics in both human and animal medicine.
"The National Chicken Council looks forward to working with the USDA and FDA to define metrics for success related to antibiotic data collection, and to pursue further research in the area of antibiotic resistance and antibiotic alternatives." 

8 steps to Elanco’s antibiotic stewardship plan

Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly and Company, has unveiled its multi-faceted approach to combat the growing concern about antibiotic resistance.
The release of it comprehensive antibiotic stewardship plan coincided with the company’s participation in the White House Forum on Antibiotic Stewardship, which was held on June 2.
The 8 steps of Elanco’s antibiotic stewardship plan are:
1. Act with responsibility globally - not just according to U.S. regulation - by working with food producers and retailers to provide training and encourage policies that reduce shared-class antibiotic use and increase veterinarian oversight.
2. Cease marketing of growth promotion uses for shared-class antibiotics and complete full regulatory change to end growth promotion use of shared-class antibiotics globally by the end of 2016.
3. Help customers eliminate continuous use of shared-class antibiotics for therapy purposes by providing an alternative.
4. Eliminate over-the-counter sales of shared-class antibiotics globally - including injectable products - where veterinarian oversight exists.
5. Eliminate concurrent use of shared-class antibiotics to treat the same disease.
6. Support veterinary oversight and responsible use, including helping build infrastructure globally.
7. Develop new animal-only antibiotics. No animal should ever be treated with a shared-class antibiotic if an animal-only option exists. Animal-only antibiotics optimize animal welfare without compromising human use antibiotics.
8. Create alternatives. Elanco commits to invest two-thirds of our food animal research budget to quickly evaluate 25 candidates and deliver 10 viable non-antibiotic development projects that address diseases where there are few, or no, alternatives to shared-class antibiotics.
In one year, Elanco will host an animal health accountability summit to provide a progress report on its effort to deliver non-antibiotic alternatives. Along the way, the company will collaborate with customers, academics and appropriate regulatory authorities, which will include establishing an expert advisory panel. Finally, Elanco will collaborate with its industry association and other technology companies to advance this effort as quickly as possible.

3 reasons Sanderson Farms won’t eliminate antibiotics

Joe Sanderson Jr., CEO of Sanderson Farms, said he does not foresee his company abandoning use of antibiotics in its production of chicken. Sanderson, while speaking recently at the Goldman Sachs Global Staples Forum, offered three reasons why he wants Sanderson Farms to continue to use antibiotics.
1. Animal welfare – Sanderson said he and the company veterinarians have all taken an oath to take care of their chickens. If Sanderson Farms abandons the use of antibiotics, the company is not following that oath, he said.
Sanderson specifically mentioned enteritis, a gut condition in chickens that to date can only be treated through the use of antibiotics. “Nothing [else] can take care of enteritis in the chicken, and nothing is coming in the future. If you don’t [treat the chickens with antibiotics for enteritis], the chicken’s going to die.”
“I cannot imagine having a diagnosis, knowing what’s wrong with them and not taking care of them, any more than I cannot imagine not taking care of a cow or one of my pets,” he said.
2. Sustainability – Eliminating the use of antibiotics is not a good example of sustainable or environmentally responsible agriculture, according to Sanderson.
The poultry company CEO pointed out that raising chickens without the use of antibiotics will require more chicken houses, more electricity, more water and more acres of corn and soybeans. “You’re going to have to grow these chickens longer and use all that to achieve the same market weight,” he said.
Sanderson said it appears not many others in the poultry industry have taken sustainability concerns into account. “If all these people do this, it’s going to take a lot more resources to get these chickens to market,” he said.
3. Food safety – Sanderson said the U.S. poultry industry only needs to look to what has happened in Europe to know that eliminating antibiotics can pose a threat to consumer food safety. With the removal of antibiotics in European poultry came increased microbiology and microorganism loads. “You take antibiotics out, and you’re going to have more Campylobacter, more Salmonella and all that coming into your plant,” Sanderson said.

4 types of antibiotics 2 Sisters doesn’t use in poultry

2 Sisters Food Group has committed to removing from its poultry production an additional class of antibiotics: Macrolides. This is the fourth class of antibiotics the company no longer uses.
Antibiotics 2 Sisters has removed from its poultry production:
1. Fluoroquinolones – Not used the last two years
2. Third-generation cephalosporins – Not used the last two years
3. Fourth-generation cephalosporins – Not used the last two years
4. Macrolides – In 2015 company announced commitment to remove
Macrolides are sometimes used to treat conditions such as mycoplasma in both parent flocks and day-old chicks. With the addition of macrolides, 2 Sisters has now removed all antibiotics defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as being of highest priority critically important to human health, therefore preserving the effectiveness of antibiotic use for people.
2 Sisters Food Group also announced it will establish two trial farms, supervised by company veterinary surgeons and independent agricultural experts, to spearhead research to help develop and roll out techniques and health and management practices aimed at reducing the industry’s future need for antibiotics.
“Our plan is also about replacing antibiotic use with other interventions wherever possible. This includes use of vaccinations and changes to husbandry and biosecurity techniques. Our strategy is continually refined through the use of trial locations to see what works best,” said Michelle Waterman, 2 Sisters’ group agriculture director.
2 Sisters Food Group, one of Britain's largest food producers, has strong market positions in poultry, red meat, chilled, bakery and frozen categories. The company serves the European market, and more information about the company can be found in WATTAgNet’s Top Poultry Companies database. 

Pilgrim’s to cut antibiotic use in chicken by 25%

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  Andrea Gantz

  Pilgrim's plans to eliminate the use of antibiotics in 25 percent of its chickens by 2019.

  From WATTAgNet:
  Pilgrim's has plans to eliminate all antibiotics from 25 percent the chickens it produces by 2019, Bill Lovette, CEO of Pilgrim’s, recently announced. Pilgrim’s, the second largest poultry company in the United States, currently has about 5 percent of its birds raised without the use of antibiotics.
  The move is being made in response to the growing demand for antibiotic-free chicken, both from consumers and from companies that Pilgrim’s supplies.
  The company also announced that it is working to end the use of antibiotics that are deemed important in human medicine, which responds to a growing trend of companies phasing out such antibiotics amid concerns about their use leading to antibiotic resistance. Quick service restaurant chain McDonald’s and retail chain Costco both announced in March that they would be phasing out chicken raised with antibiotics also used in human medicine.
  Other restaurant chains, such as Chick-fil-A, have initiated plans to totally eliminate chicken raised with antibiotics from company locations.
  Headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, Pilgrim’s processes 28.72 million birds weekly, according to the WATT Global Media Top Companies Database. The company, which is a subsidiary of Brazil-based meat and poultry company JBS SA, has 24 slaughter plants, five cooking plants, 30 hatcheries and 24 feed mills.

UK study: Poultry protein as alternative to antibiotics?

A study in the U.K. that looks at a protein found in poultry that can control macrophage numbers has been given a grant of GBP951,944 (US$1.4 million).
Scientists at the country’s Roslin Institute will look at how the protein, known as CSF-1, can induce changes in the growth and development of the immune system, and test the possibility that it could improve both innate disease resistance, and the efficacy of existing and future vaccines.
The researchers will also use genomic technologies to find evidence of genetic variation in the functions of macrophages that could provide the basis for breeding birds with improved resistance to common pathogens.
The funding has been granted by the BBSRC, an academic research and training funding body, and the Scottish government, and forms part of a an almost GBP7 million initiative to support research into diseases affecting poultry, farmed fish, sheep, pigs and cattle.
Better IBV vaccine understanding
Also included in the grant giving round is funding for a project that will look at infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), which will be carried out by the Pirbright Institute.
The BBSRC notes that, while effective and economically viable vaccines against IBV are available, multiple combinations of vaccines are required due to the level of cross-protection that is needed against the various IBV strains.
Using novel “epitope fingerprinting” technology to determine the epitopes that are recognized by antibodies induced after infection, researchers will determine why certain vaccines do not induce cross protection, and how current vaccines may be used more efficiently.
In addition, the researchers will determine how pressure on the virus from the bird’s immune responses might drive the virus to change or mutate.
It is hoped that the results from the research will provide knowledge for the subsequent development of efficient cross-protective vaccines. 

OMP capitalizes on antibiotic-free trend, saves jobs

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  Ozark Mountain Poultry

  Ozark Mountain Poultry is rapidly growing in Arkansas as CEO Ed Fryar has recognized the demand for antibiotic-free poultry.

  From WATTAgNet:
  Ozark Mountain Poultry (OMP) is expanding rapidly as chicken raised without antibiotics moves from a niche market to a mainstream product. The growth of OMP has not only helped meet consumer demand for antibiotic-free poultry, but it has also helped save jobs at closing Arkansas poultry plants that may have otherwise been lost.
  Ed Fryar, CEO of OMP, headquartered in Rogers, Arkansas, said he originally set out to debone dark meat for larger poultry companies but made the transition to producing chicken raised without antibiotics in 2011. Now the company sells directly to restaurants, to other businesses that use the poultry in their own products and to consumers under the Forester Farmer's Market brand, which is named after the defunct town in Scott County, Arkansas.
  Since the change, Fryar has more than doubled his employees. OMP operations, which are all in Arkansas, employ about 1,300 people.
  The company's growth is evident in Batesville. In October 2013, Ozark Mountain Poultry bought the Pilgrim's complex, which was scheduled to close.
  "If Pilgrim's Pride had closed and no one had purchased the assets and turned them into a going concern, this economy would have been devastated," said Bob Stroud, chairman of the Independence County Economic Development Board.
  On March 10, OMP said it will purchase ConAgra Foods' Batesville facility, which it will update and reopen in early 2016. Stroud said the company's expansion will have a ripple effect on construction workers and farmers who grow grain to feed the chickens.
  "Dr. Fryar is definitely a dynamic leader for his company and understands the food-processing business in a way that few do in this state," Stroud said. "He did his homework, came to town, and that company has been a good employer."
  OMP also has reopened the former H&L Poultry facility in Warren, bought a grain elevator in Bay and is building a new feed mill in Magness -- all since 2014.
  Fryar said the growth of OMP was the result of transferring from one niche market to another.
  In 2001, Fryar started OMP. His company deboned the back half of birds for larger poultry companies -- a niche market that the companies had mostly ignored because of little demand for dark meat. However, the companies that were contracting with Fryar and others started bringing their operations back in-house.
  The change led Petit Jean to close its Arkadelphia plant at the end of 2008, when Tyson Foods didn't renew a deboning contract, and left 385 without jobs.
  By 2010, Fryar knew he needed to find a new niche for his 550 employees. About 10 years after the company began operations, OMP made the leap to antibiotic-free birds, following a trend that wasn't widely accepted at the time.
  The risk has paid off. In the past five years, the company has gone from 550 employees to about 1,300. Fryar said operations will continue to grow. Last summer the company had 250 poultry houses. By summer 2016, the company will have about 500.

Study: Animal antibiotic use to rise 67 percent by 2030

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  Freeimages.com/bugdog

  Antibiotic use in animals is expected to increase by 67 percent by 2030, according to one study.

  From WATTAgNet:
  As the demand for meat and poultry continues to grow, the use of animal antibiotics is predicted to rise an estimated 67 percent from 2010 to 2030, according to a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
  The countries that will see the largest increases in antibiotic use — 99 percent — include Brazil, India, Russia, China and South Africa, according to the report.
  Scientists and public health officials fear that the overuse of antibiotics is leading them to lose their effectiveness against a range of previously treatable diseases, and fueling the rise of potentially deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria. According to the Centers for Disease Control, at least 2 million people are infected by drug-resistant bacteria every year in the United States, and at least 23,000 people die because of such infections.
  “The invention of antibiotics was a major public health revolution of the 20th century,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, the study’s senior author and Director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy (CDDEP). “Their effectiveness — and the lives of millions of people around the world — are now in danger due to the increasing global problem of antibiotic resistance, which is being driven by antibiotic consumption.”
  According to the study — carried out by researchers from the CDDEP, Princeton University, the International Livestock Research Institute and the Université Libre de Bruxelles – two-thirds of the projected increase in antibiotic use is because more animals are being raised for consumption.
  In 2014, the Food and Drug Administration reported a 16 percent increase in the amount of antibiotics sold for agriculture use between 2009 and 2012 in the U.S. alone.

Tyson: Consumer views on antibiotics won’t hurt company

• 

  National Chicken Council

  Tyson Foods officials say consumer views on antibiotic use won't keep the company from meeting its financial goals in 2015.

  From WATTAgNet:
  Tyson Foods will meet its financial goals despite uncertainty over consumer attitudes toward antibiotics, company executives say.
  Speaking at a Consumer Analyst Group of Europe conference on March 18 in London, Dennis Leathery, chief financial officer, said Tyson Foods is well-suited to adapt to customer demand regarding how poultry is raised.
  "A couple of weeks ago many of you may have seen an announcement by McDonald's about sourcing chicken without antibiotics that are important to human medicine," he said. "We support McDonald's decision, and, in fact, we worked very closely with them on this decision because we were already headed in that direction."
  Shares of Tyson Foods dropped after March 4, the day McDonald's announced a move away from chicken raised with medically important antibiotics. Antimicrobials that aren't used in human medicine, like ionophores, will continue to be allowed by the restaurant chain.
  McDonald's is a "top 10" customer for Tyson, and the company has several facilities dedicated to the chain, Leatherby said.
  In October 2014, Tyson stopped using antibiotics at its 35 hatcheries. From 2011 to 2014, the company reduced human-antibiotic use on farms by 84 percent.
  Leathery said Tyson had stopped using human antibiotics in chicken feed in January. He also mentioned that a Tyson Foods brand offers chicken that is raised without any antibiotic use.
  "Our size has allowed us to get more involved in the no-antibiotics-ever offering at retail under our Nature Raised Farms [brand]," Leatherby said.
  Apart from antibiotic use, Andy Callahan, president of retail packaged brands, said product development at Tyson's innovation centers in Springdale, Arkansas, and Downers Grove, Illinois, remains strong.
  The company will soon release Ball Park beef jerky and a Hillshire snacking line.
  "Innovation is the lifeblood of brand growing," Callahan said. "We have a pipeline that is very strong."

Costco ending sale of chicken given human antibiotics

• 

  National Chicken Council

  Costco has revealed it will phase out the sale of chicken raised with the use of antibiotics also used in human medicine.

  From WATTAgNet:
  U.S. retailer Costco is working toward eliminating the sale of chicken and meat animals raised with antibiotics that are vital to fighting human infections, senior executives said March 5.
  Costco, which sells 80 million rotisserie chickens a year, announced the decision on the heels of a similar announcement made by McDonald’s, which is phasing out the sale of chicken raised with antibiotics that are used in human medicine, although the fast food chain will not eliminate chickens judiciously treated with antibiotics that are not used in human medicine.
  "We are working towards, and working with our suppliers and the regulatory agencies ... to see how we can get rid of shared-use antibiotics in animals," Craig Wilson, vice president of food safety at the Issaquah, Washington-based retail giant, said. "I think all of us want to move to a point where we can get the human-use antibiotics out of the system. It's going to take time."
  Wilson and Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said the company did not have a target date for reaching that goal, a reflection of supply constraints.
  Wilson said Costco has been working with the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the goal of eliminating shared-use antibiotics. The Center for Veterinary Medicine is involved in the effort as well, he said.

McDonald's adopts policy limiting antibiotics in chicken

• 

  WATT Global Media

  McDonald's will phase out serving chickens raised with antibiotics that are also useful for human health.

  From WATTAgNet:
  Chicken served at McDonald’s U.S. restaurants will soon be raised without antibiotics that are important to human medicine, the company announced on March 4. The fast food chain intends to phase into its new antibiotics policy over the next two years.
  While McDonald's will only source chicken raised without antibiotics important to human medicine, the farmers who supply chicken for its menu will continue to responsibly use ionophores, a type of antibiotic not used for humans that helps keep chickens healthy.
  "If fewer chickens get sick, then fewer chickens need to be treated with antibiotics that are important in human medicine. We believe this is an essential balance," said Marion Gross, senior vice president of McDonald’s North America Supply Chain.
  McDonald's has been working closely with farmers for years to reduce the use of antibiotics in its poultry supply. This new policy supports the company's new Global Vision for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Food Animals introduced earlier this week, which builds on the company's 2003 global antibiotics policy and includes supplier guidance on the thoughtful use of antibiotics in all food animals.
  All of the chicken served at McDonald's approximately 14,000 U.S. restaurants comes from U.S. farms which are working closely with McDonald's to implement the new antibiotics policy to the supply chain within the next two years.
  At the same time McDonald’s announced its new policy on antibiotics in chicken, the company also revealed it would phase out milk from cows treated with artificial growth hormone rbST.
  "Our customers want food that they feel great about eating -- all the way from the farm to the restaurant -- and these moves take a step toward better delivering on those expectations," said McDonald's U.S President Mike Andres.

Antibiotic-free chicken now in consumer mainstream

Antibiotic-free broiler products are no longer a niche market. The event that brought the issue into the mainstream was actually several years ago when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Medical Association turned antibiotic use in animals into a human health issue. That was the opinion expressed by Richard Kottmeyer, a consumer industry analyst with Strategic, at the beginning of the discussion. 
“We now have a lot of people who know someone who has problems with antibiotic resistance,” said Kottmeyer. “It is a mainstream health issue. I think in a few years, one-third of chicken and turkey will be antibiotic free. The problem then is the other 66 percent of consumers will be resenting the fact their chicken isn’t antibiotic free.”
Perdue has been one of the leading mainstream poultry producers embracing antibiotic-free production. Dr. Bruce Stewart-Brown talked about Perdue’s 12-year journey to antibiotic-free production and some of the lessons learned. He stressed it is a process. 
“We’ve learned a lot of things,” said Stewart-Brown. “For example, you must have clean eggs in hatchery. We had to clean hatcheries better, had to step up sanitation and use a stricter approach as it related to personnel and procedures. [I] think the hatchery piece was the most significant to work through, but in the end all that cleaning and sanitation had positive side benefits in regards to chick quality.
Watch clips from the roundtable discussion. More clips and reporting from the event will be available next week. 

NCC: Reuters article about antibiotic use leaves out key details

The National Chicken Council (NCC) used a September 15 article by Reuters as an opportunity to reiterate the fact that the majority of antibiotics approved for use in raising chickens are not used in human medicine, and those that are will be phased out for growth promotion purposes by December, 2016.
"We understand the concern about the use of antibiotics in farm animals and recognize our responsibility to ensure they are properly used for the right reasons to protect the health of animals, humans and the food supply," said Ashley Peterson, Ph.D., NCC vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs, in response today to a Reuters article about antibiotic use in the poultry industry.
"All antibiotics used to prevent and treat disease in chickens are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The majority of these antibiotics are never used in human medicine and therefore represent no threat of creating resistance in humans," Peterson said.
Only about 10 percent of the feed tickets reviewed by Reuters list antibiotics belonging to medically important drug classes – the exact ones that both the industry and FDA are currently phasing out for growth promotion purposes.
"While minimally used in raising chickens, by December 2016, these antibiotics that are important to human medicine will be labeled for use in food animals only to prevent and treat disease, under the supervision and care of a veterinarian," Peterson continued.  "The industry has fully cooperated with the FDA, and many poultry and pharmaceutical companies are moving far in advance of regulatory deadlines for compliance.
"There are responsible, approved standards of veterinary treatment that benefit animal welfare and human health by reducing the need for heavier doses of antibiotics in the event of widespread disease," Peterson explained. "Much like a companion animal veterinarian would use de-worming compounds to prevent illness in puppies and kittens, chicken producers and veterinarians use compounds to prevent and treat intestinal diseases in the birds they care for in the field.
"Since the article did not contain perspectives from animal scientists or poultry veterinarians, the reader is left without this context and unfortunately left with hypothetical comments from a few sources."
Antibiotics themselves and their dosage rates have been approved by the FDA. Any feed mill that makes feed which contains an FDA-approved and regulated product, like an antibiotic, is subject to FDA authority and inspection. Contrary to what Reuters reports, these mills keep records of antibiotic use and the information is available to FDA and regulators.
Peterson said that it is not surprising that a farm may have antibiotics listed on a feed ticket. The important answers, she added, are found in the detail behind the use of the antibiotic."Is the antibiotic made exclusively for animals? If it is an antibiotic used in human medicine, is it being used to treat or prevent a disease? Is a veterinarian involved in this treatment decision? Is it administered according to an approved label?"
Finally, Peterson took contention with the story's repeated use of the term "Superbugs." As the FDA has stated, "it is inaccurate and alarmist to define bacteria resistant to one, or even a few, antibiotics as 'Superbugs' if these same bacteria are still treatable by other commonly used antibiotics."
Reuters also failed to point out that according to the most recent FDA data, 85 percent of Salmonella collected from humans had no resistance to any of the antibiotics tested, and multi-drug resistance in Salmonella from humans and chickens is the lowest since FDA began testing.
For consumers with further questions, the National Chicken Council has put together a detailed list of questions and answers about how, why and which antibiotics are used, or not used, in raising chickens.  In addition, the U.S. Poultry& Egg Association recently released a new video series about antibiotic use in the poultry industry, featuring two animal science and veterinary experts:Dr. Randy Singer, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Medicine, University of Minnesota, and Dr. Charles Hofacre, Professor, Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center, Department of Population Health, University of Georgia.