🔗 Share this article

The substances we introduce into our bodies can alternatively sustain us or cause sickness. Recently, I explored how dietary habits impacts the risk of colon cancer. But what about agricultural practices?

Worldwide, we are witnessing the rise of cheap meat, largely driven by consumer desire from a expanding affluent population that finally can afford poultry and red meat, which were once out of reach. Roughly 45% of global consumption growth is occurring in upper-middle-income countries such as India, China, Brazil, the Philippines and Indonesia. Chicken is expected to capture an greater portion of that growth, projected to increase by 21% by 2034, since it is relatively cheap, widely acceptable and needs fewer resources per kilogram than red meat. By 2034, it is estimated that poultry will supply 45% of the protein consumed from all meat sources.

But this has consequences. With limited land and tight schedules, the solution in many countries has been to use antibiotics at scale. This is not only to treat illness but additionally as a preventative measure to prevent disease in overpopulated environments. Furthermore, giving antibiotics causes farm animals to grow faster, even though researchers aren’t sure exactly why. This situation means that, unlike their application in people—where antibiotics are almost always given to treat illness—their use in farming is far more common and uncontrolled. Studies monitoring their consumption suggest that 73% of all antibiotics sold worldwide are used in livestock production.

This enormous overuse is causing a increase in antibiotic-resistant pathogens. As an illustration, resistance to colistin, a final-line treatment, initially emerged in E coli bacteria that then contaminated pigs. E coli was later detected in swine handlers. Only required are air travel and international transport for these pathogens to spread globally. Currently, resistant strains have been identified not only in hospitals in the Far East but around the globe.

How does this impact for someone sitting in a GP clinic or a medical center in the UK? It signifies that bacterial illnesses that were once easily treatable—such as otitis, urinary tract infections or post-operative infections—become incurable even after a dose of antibiotics. It implies that surgeries such as C-sections, joint surgeries and oncology treatments that depend on immunosuppression all become riskier. And while novel antimicrobials are feasible to create, the pipeline is lengthy and expensive. We must conserve the tools we currently possess.

The solutions to this issue can exclusively come from changing global food production. Admittedly, the United Kingdom has achieved notable reductions in curtailing antimicrobial use in livestock. Sales of veterinary antimicrobials destined for consumption has declined by 59% since 2014. The use of colistin is now effectively zero. The employment of critically important antibiotics has fallen to under 0.5% of all animal antibiotic sales. And, studies by European agencies indicated that after antimicrobial consumption in farming was reduced by almost 50% between 2014 and 2021, antibiotic resistance in E. coli bacteria throughout Europe also began to decline.

However just concentrating on the UK or EU is a drop in the bucket. If the major emerging economies are included in discussions on how meat is farmed, we remain just as susceptible to drug-resistant infections. The challenge is that moving towards different production practices requires more space and time: making meat even more expensive in highly populated nations can quickly trigger public protests, governmental opposition and frustration. The health imperative is clear, but this must be weighed with considerations of nutritional access, economics and consumer expectations.

Environmental researchers have long warned about the ecological impacts of the current global food system, whether it’s methane emissions, species decline, or deforestation. But these consequences often seem distant and theoretical, particularly for individuals struggling with cost-of-living pressures or concerned with immediate healthcare access.

Antibiotic resistance is tangible. Almost everyone has taken antibiotics at one time or another, and we can envision what would occur if their curative power was abruptly lost. Food production, medicine and the environment are all interlinked. How pig meat is produced in China affects whether your child’s antibiotics work in Scotland. Whether a female patient in Nigeria survives a caesarean is linked to how poultry are raised in Brazil.

Unless we address these widespread, world-spanning challenges, such as how our diet is sourced and how we use our existing drugs, we risk losing something invaluable: the capacity to treat infections that we take for granted now.