Food Animals and Antimicrobials: Impacts on Human Health

Abstract

SUMMARY Antimicrobials are valuable therapeutics whose efficacy is seriously compromised by the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. The provision of antibiotics to food animals encompasses a wide variety of nontherapeutic purposes that include growth promotion. The concern over resistance emergence and spread to people by nontherapeutic use of antimicrobials has led to conflicted practices and opinions. Considerable evidence supported the removal of nontherapeutic antimicrobials (NTAs) in Europe, based on the “precautionary principle.” Still, concrete scientific evidence of the favorable versus unfavorable consequences of NTAs is not clear to all stakeholders. Substantial data show elevated antibiotic resistance in bacteria associated with animals fed NTAs and their food products. This resistance spreads to other animals and humans—directly by contact and indirectly via the food chain, water, air, and manured and sludge-fertilized soils. Modern genetic techniques are making advances in deciphering the ecological impact of NTAs, but modeling efforts are thwarted by deficits in key knowledge of microbial and antibiotic loads at each stage of the transmission chain. Still, the substantial and expanding volume of evidence reporting animal-to-human spread of resistant bacteria, including that arising from use of NTAs, supports eliminating NTA use in order to reduce the growing environmental load of resistance genes.

Characterization of Composted Organic Amendments for Agricultural Use

“…In recent years, emerging contaminants (e.g., pesticides and their metabolites, pharmaceuticals, personal and house care products, food additives, industrial products and wastes, nanomaterials) have become a matter of much concern (Gomes et al, 2017). For example, the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes, which can occur via the application of manure-and sewage sludge-derived amendments to agricultural soil (Martínez-Carballo et al, 2007;Udikovic-Kolic et al, 2014), is currently a matter of much concern due to the risk of transfer of antibiotic resistance genes to human pathogens (Marshall and Levy, 2011).…”

Characteristics of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae and Methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolated from Swiss and imported raw poultry meat collected at retail level

“…The contamination of raw meat with antimicrobial resistant bacteria such as extended-spectrum-β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae or methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a potential risk for consumers and food handlers to get colonized or infected (Marshall and Levy, 2011). ESBLs are enzymes that hydrolyze the β-lactam ring of extended-spectrum cephalosporins, reducing the therapeutic efficacy of modern expanded-spectrum cephalosporins.…”

Evaluation of Haemato-Biochemical Profiles of Broiler Chicken Supplemented with Dietary Minerals

“…antibiotics could maintain accessible markets for poultry products (Marshall and Levy, 2011). Minerals, particularly trace minerals like Selenium, Zinc and Chromium play vital role in various metabolic, enzymatic and biochemical reactions and ultimately improves disease resistance leading to better growth as well as improved meat quality, and thus gaining more importance as dietary growth promoters Fawzy et al, 2016).…”

“…In the present scenario there is continuous increase in rampant use of antibiotics in the poultry industry to overcome such disease problem and to increase disease resistance as well as optimum growth (Marshall and Levy, 2011). However, this preventive health management practice in food animals and birds has resulted antibioticresistant in the human populations (Phillips et al, 2004).…”