Antibiotic resistance: mitigation opportunities in livestock sector development

Our diets and food production systems have changed dramatically in recent decades, and the way we use antibiotics is closely linked to these changes. Population growth and changing dietary preferences, brought about largely through economic growth and urbanization, have driven up demand for animal source foods (ASF) particularly in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) (Alexandratos and Bruinsma, 2012). The resulting production gains, particularly in pig, poultry and dairy systems, have been achieved largely through intensification: increasingly large, specialized units, disconnected geographically from the land producing their feed, containing high densities of genetically homogenous animals, highly bred for productivity traits. Intensive livestock farms have been far more dependent on antibiotics for growth promotion, disease prevention and disease treatment, so these structural changes bring about considerable increases in antibiotic use and this is predicted to double in the rapidly growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa from 2010 to 203