Impact of Poultry Farming on Antibacterial Drug Resistance

Introduction

Food security is a major concern due to population growth. It is therefore necessary to ensure that food production systems can accommodate this growth (World Population Prospects 2022 World Population Prospects 2022 Summary of Results, n.d.). Meat and other animal foods are essential components of the human diet. Demand for these foods continues to rise, and meat consumption has more than quadrupled in the last 50 years (Meat and Dairy Production - Our World in Data n.d.). Poultry is currently the most widely produced and consumed meat in the world (Connolly et al. 2022). Meat production has also increased worldwide over time. According to the FAO, the production of poultry meat accounted for over 40% of total meat production worldwide in 2020. As a result, there has been an international shift towards intensive farming methods that make it easier for infections, including zoonoses, to spread and affect animal health and production (Meat and Dairy Production - Our World in Data n.d.) (Nazeer et al. 2021). Concerns about the sustainability and safety of the associated processes are growing as production volumes increase. Food safety concerns are a direct consequence of this increasing production trend. The production of animal products has a variety of negative impacts on human health, including increased greenhouse gas emissions, contaminated drinking water, environmental damage, the spread of antibiotic resistance and the re-emergence or development of infectious diseases (Espinosa-Marrón et al. 2022)(One Health Basics | One Health | CDC n.d.).

Poultry farming, with its intensive production processes and widespread use of antimicrobial drugs, has proven to be one of the main causes of the emergence of antibiotic resistance. In chicken farming, antibiotics are routinely administered for various purposes, including disease prevention, growth promotion and infection treatment. However, the indiscriminate use of antimicrobials exerts a selection pressure on bacteria that favours the emergence and spread of resistant forms. Antibiotic resistance is a serious threat to public health as it renders previously effective antibiotics ineffective against bacterial infections. The close proximity of animals in intensive poultry farming creates an ideal environment for the spread and proliferation of resistant bacteria.