---

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Answer

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 3 March 2004, Official Report, column 930W, what recent research she has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the effect on humans of receiving antibiotics through the eating of meat and poultry, with particular reference to hospital superbugs. [160997] Mr. Bradshaw: Defra's research programme into antimicrobials is designed to take forward the issues identified by the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) in their 1999 Report on Microbial Antibiotic Resistance in Relation to Food Safety. This concluded that further research was required into the extent to which antibiotic use in animals contributes to the overall problem of antimicrobial resistance in humans. This programme is therefore investigating whether the administration of antibiotics to animals results in the selection of resistant bacteria that may be transferred to humans in food and cause infections that are difficult to treat. It is focused on bacteria found on farms and in slaughterhouses that can cause human disease, such as Salmonella, Escherischia coli and Campylobacter. It does not include isolates found in hospitals and the evidence does not indicate that food is a major source of resistant organisms in hospitals. This research will be evaluated as part of a full science review of the programme being arranged for late 2004. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate carries out extensive surveillance for residues of veterinary medicines (including antimicrobials) in meat and other animal products. Over the five years between 1998 and 2002 (the last year for which figures are available) nearly 60,000 red meat and poultry samples were analysed. Antimicrobial residues above the Ell's permitted Maximum Residues Levels were detected in less than 0.2 per cent. of these samples.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

160997; 419 c682W;419 c684W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Animal feed Antibiotics Hospitals Infectious diseases Meat Research

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk