From the Editor: April 2011
I received an alarming phone call from an Edmonton man calling himself a
“concerned consumer” in mid-February. He was quite angry over an
episode of Marketplace, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s so-called
consumer watchdog television program.
I received an alarming phone call from an Edmonton man calling himself a “concerned consumer” in mid-February. He was quite angry over an episode of Marketplace, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s so-called consumer watchdog television program.
The episode, entitled “Superbugs in the Supermarket,” focused on the relationship between the use of antibiotics in broiler chicken production and antibiotic resistance in humans. It aired on CBC Feb. 11.
Although the caller had quite a bit to say about many facets of agriculture, particularly with respect to chicken production (among other views, he voiced his disbelief in supply management and his refusal to pay “outrageous” prices for chicken) he said one thing that was distressing: “I knew Canadian chicken was bad, but not that bad.”
He was referring to damning evidence presented in the Marketplace episode. Producers of the show purchased various types of raw chicken products (including those labelled organic and raised without the use of antibiotics) from several supermarket chains in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. All chicken samples were tested for the presence of bacteria that are resistant to several classes of antibiotics used in human health care. Their results showed that two-thirds of the samples contained bacterial species and that, of these, at least one species of bacteria was resistant to at least one antibiotic. Almost half of the samples contained salmonella resistant to the drug ceftiofur.
Ceftiofur was the focus of a July 2009 article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), entitled “The Perils of Poultry,” which revealed a link between the off-label use of cephalosporin antibiotics (such as ceftiofur) in hatcheries and human resistance to this class of drugs. The link was made from surveillance data collected by the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (CIPARS).
The link between the use of cephalosporin and other classes of antibiotics on-farm and antibiotic resistance is not conclusive, but the opinion that exists among many human health professionals and scientists studying antibiotic resistance in humans is that overuse of antibiotics on farm animals is one of the major reasons some antibiotics no longer seem to be working as effectively as they once did.
There are many other factors contributing to resistance; however, we don’t want consumers to lose confidence in poultry products because resistance has been found. Nor do we want to follow the European model and ban the use of certain antibiotics (Europe has banned those that have little or no use in human medicine). This measure has not reduced antibiotic usage, as intended, and has actually led to an increase in the use of antibiotics, particularly those associated with human medicine.
We are stuck between a rock and a hard place, said David Fuller, chair of the Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC), to delegates at the Alberta Chicken Producers meeting in early March. Assumptions are being made, and we can’t sit and wait, he said. “We need to know if we are contributing to the problem.”
That’s why the CFC is “opening its doors” to the Public Health Agency of Canada via CIPARS, he said. The CFC has recently finalized a new protocol to monitor antibiotic usage on-farm and antibiotic resistance levels at the farm level, and has started a pilot project. Since 2002, CIPARS has been performing surveillance at the retail and processing plant level only.
CFC is asking for producer assistance with the project, and I encourage producers to get involved. As Mr. Fuller said, “we all have a role to play in our industry’s success.”
The episode, entitled “Superbugs in the Supermarket,” focused on the relationship between the use of antibiotics in broiler chicken production and antibiotic resistance in humans. It aired on CBC Feb. 11.
Although the caller had quite a bit to say about many facets of agriculture, particularly with respect to chicken production (among other views, he voiced his disbelief in supply management and his refusal to pay “outrageous” prices for chicken) he said one thing that was distressing: “I knew Canadian chicken was bad, but not that bad.”
He was referring to damning evidence presented in the Marketplace episode. Producers of the show purchased various types of raw chicken products (including those labelled organic and raised without the use of antibiotics) from several supermarket chains in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. All chicken samples were tested for the presence of bacteria that are resistant to several classes of antibiotics used in human health care. Their results showed that two-thirds of the samples contained bacterial species and that, of these, at least one species of bacteria was resistant to at least one antibiotic. Almost half of the samples contained salmonella resistant to the drug ceftiofur.
Ceftiofur was the focus of a July 2009 article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), entitled “The Perils of Poultry,” which revealed a link between the off-label use of cephalosporin antibiotics (such as ceftiofur) in hatcheries and human resistance to this class of drugs. The link was made from surveillance data collected by the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (CIPARS).
The link between the use of cephalosporin and other classes of antibiotics on-farm and antibiotic resistance is not conclusive, but the opinion that exists among many human health professionals and scientists studying antibiotic resistance in humans is that overuse of antibiotics on farm animals is one of the major reasons some antibiotics no longer seem to be working as effectively as they once did.
There are many other factors contributing to resistance; however, we don’t want consumers to lose confidence in poultry products because resistance has been found. Nor do we want to follow the European model and ban the use of certain antibiotics (Europe has banned those that have little or no use in human medicine). This measure has not reduced antibiotic usage, as intended, and has actually led to an increase in the use of antibiotics, particularly those associated with human medicine.
We are stuck between a rock and a hard place, said David Fuller, chair of the Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC), to delegates at the Alberta Chicken Producers meeting in early March. Assumptions are being made, and we can’t sit and wait, he said. “We need to know if we are contributing to the problem.”
That’s why the CFC is “opening its doors” to the Public Health Agency of Canada via CIPARS, he said. The CFC has recently finalized a new protocol to monitor antibiotic usage on-farm and antibiotic resistance levels at the farm level, and has started a pilot project. Since 2002, CIPARS has been performing surveillance at the retail and processing plant level only.
CFC is asking for producer assistance with the project, and I encourage producers to get involved. As Mr. Fuller said, “we all have a role to play in our industry’s success.”