Antibiotic threat to food on your family’s plates

FAMILIES could be exposed to food containing antibiotics because of post-Brexit trade deals and inconsistent supermarket policies, campaigners have warned.

They said yesterday that agreements signed with non-EU countries such as Australia may lead to imports of food laced with the drugs.

Most supermarkets control or ban the use of antibiotics on UK farms for products in their own ranges. However, the rules are often not applied to imported or branded food.

Antibiotics on farms can cause common food poisoning bugs found in livestock to mutate.

It is feared that when the bugs, such as campylobacter or salmonella, enter the food chain they will be able to defeat antibiotics with disastrous consequences for human health.

The policies of some supermarkets on the use of antibiotics cover only own-brand fresh meat, dairy products and eggs of UK origin. This leaves frozen produce, ready meals, ingredients and branded produce with no restrictions, other than the minimum legal standards.

The concerns are raised in a report from the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, which includes pressure groups such as Compassion in World Farming.

Spokesman Suzi Shingler said: ‘Supermarkets have a responsibility to ensure that all meat, dairy and eggs they sell is produced without misusing antibiotics and comes from farms with good husbandry.

‘The current mishmash of rules means that consumers cannot tell whether this is the case or not. Some imported food may even be produced by using antibiotics to make animals grow faster, a practice which has been banned in the UK for 15 years.’

The alliance pointed to predictions saying that, without radical change, antimicrobial resistance will kill more people by 2050 than cancer does today.

It says resistance to antibiotics is increasing and threatens to undermine medical procedures such as hip replacements, cancer chemotherapy and organ transplants. The alliance has launched a petition urging supermarkets to apply their rules for responsible antibiotic use to all animal products.

Former chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies has also told of the ‘catastrophic threat’ from antimicrobial resistance.

She said: ‘If we don’t act now, any one of us could go into hospital in 20 years for minor surgery and die because of an ordinary infection that can’t be treated by antibiotics.’

‘A mishmash of rules’