The Joint Communication on Antibiotic Use in Game Birds has been released and you can read it here.
As with all sectors, but especially food producing sectors, there continues to be a need to further reduce the levels of antibiotics (AB) prescribed. In the attached document there are some summary figures from the 2020 data collection, along with some reinforcement of the rules and regulations, as well as some exciting new initiatives to help forward the game bird sector and help maintain its sustainability for future generations to come. For a sector 2020 has been one of the hardest years on record, but huge congratulations are due to those that persevered through Covid and also helped to continue reducing our overall AB use.
The main figures from the report are summarised below:
- There was an impressive 42% overall reduction in antibiotics used compared with 2019.
- And a 70% reduction since 2016.
- HP-CIAs (High Priority – Critically Important Antibiotics) such as Enrofloxacin showed a 62% reduction since 2019, and over 66% reduction since 2016.
All antibiotics must be responsibly prescribed by a UK based vet who has the birds under his/her care, and ideally by a vet who is a member of the BVPA (British Veterinary Poultry Association). All PHS vets are members of the BVPA.
If you have any questions about antibiotic usage or prescriptions, please speak to your PHS vet.