In the US, a Consumer Reports article released yesterday does little to shed light on the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance, the National Chicken Council has said. The implications could be far-reaching for the European meat and poultry industry, where the subject of whether or not to use antibiotics is currently a hotly debated topic.

"There is nothing in the article to indicate that the resistance found actually comes from use of antibiotics in live chickens. Campylobacter in particular is known to have a high level of natural resistance to antibiotics," NCC said in a statement.

"Antibiotics are used in poultry to treat outbreaks of disease, to prevent and control disease, and to improve the intestinal health of the animals. Banning the use of antibiotics for prevention and control, and to improve intestinal health, is counterproductive to the objective of maintaining flock health. In Denmark, where low-level antibiotics have been banned, disease has increased and the use of therapeutic medications has increased more than 90 per cent," the statement added.

In Europe the resistance to antibiotics and their use in meat and poultry processing has been strong, fuelled by the campaigns of consumer and environmental groups. Currently the use of antibiotics in the US meat and poultry industry is much more widespread, with the industry there claiming that the benefits of antibiotics far outweigh the negative aspects. The negative aspects include the belief that consuming chicken treated with antibiotics can lead to increased antibiotics resistance amongst humans. However, the case of the Danish meat and poultry industry is, according to the US industry, reason enough for it to continue using antibiotics.

"The article mentions the use of enrofloxacin in poultry," the statement added. "Yet we believe that enrofloxacin is currently used in only a fraction of one per cent of chicken flocks, a level of usage that could hardly be a problem in human health. The human equivalent, ciprofloxacin, is one of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics in the world, and any problems with human resistance are far more likely to be connected to widespread use in humans rather than in the minimal use in chickens.

"Chicken is a safe and wholesome food that should be handled and cooked in the proper and traditional manner. As mentioned in the Consumer Reports article, bacteria are killed by the heat of normal cooking, which virtually eliminates the risk of acquiring a foodborne illness.

"It is good news that Salmonella and Campylobacter prevalence has declined. The Salmonella number given in the article (12 per cent nationwide) is consistent with USDA data.

"Data from the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS), operated by USDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, show low and stable levels of resistant pathogens in animals, and shows generally declining levels of resistant foodborne pathogens in humans.

"Congressional action to ban 'subtherapeutic' usage, as recommended by Consumers Union, would have unintended consequences like those suffered in Europe and is not related to the testing done by CU, since many of the compounds tested are used only therapeutically."

Despite all the arguments in favour of using antibiotics in US meat and poultry production, it does seem that some of the concerns about its overuse have been noted. Evidence of this is apparent in statistics for the use of antibiotics in meat and poultry production, which show that over the past three years the use of antibiotics has been steadily declining.

The National Chicken Council represents integrated chicken producer-processors, the companies that produce, process and market chickens. Member companies of NCC account for approximately 95 per cent of the chicken sold in the United States.