The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned that antibiotics use in farmed animals could climb by nearly a third over the next 15 years unless governments intervene. The trend is likely to worsen antimicrobial resistance, with serious consequences for both human and animal health.
Animal husbandry already accounts for close to three-quarters of global antimicrobial use, and monitoring of this practice is weak in many countries. Some herds are routinely dosed, while antimicrobials are also used to boost growth in animals bred for meat. The FAO estimates that, if current trends continue, more than 143,000 tonnes of antimicrobials could be given to livestock annually by 2040.
Antimicrobial resistance already costs an estimated €11bn a year in Europe and could cost $1tn globally by 2050. The economic losses from rising resistance in farmed animals could reach $318bn by 2040, far more than the cost of phasing out growth promoters, but this does not even count the cost of future pandemics.
Cóilín Nunan of the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics (ASOA) said to the Guardian, “Phasing out the use of antibiotics for growth promotion, one of the worst misuses of antibiotics, will not be costless. But [the FAO report] says that the economic impact associated with rising antibiotic resistance in livestock, including lower production and higher food prices, will be far higher and longer-lasting.” Both the FAO and ASOA missed the obvious long-term solution to this problem: phasing out animal agriculture altogether and replacing it with plant-based agriculture (which does not need antibiotics).
ASOA has called for the UK to ban imports of meat produced with growth promoters, and it says British standards have not kept pace with the EU since Brexit. The EU will ban imports of meat, dairy, and eggs produced with growth promoters from September 2026, while a UK Government spokesperson said the UK already bans domestic growth promotion use and requires strict certification for imports.
