UK pig sector continues to reduce antibiotic use

According to RUMA's Targets Task Force Report 2020, UK sales of antibiotics to treat food producing animals have halved since 2014.

Antibiotic usage in the UK pig sector has dropped by 60% from the 278 mg/kg PCU^* starting point in 2015 to 110 mg/kg PCU in 2018 and 2019, with a provisional 2020 figure up to and including June 2020 of 104 mg/kg PCU. This is just above the 99 mg/kg target set to finish out 2020.

The use of HP-CIAs (Highest Priority Critically Important Antibiotic, used for human medical purposes) was reduced to 0.04 mg/kg PCU in 2019, which is below the 2015 baseline of 1 mg/kg PCU.

Targets for 2024 have been set for the pig industry including reducing antibiotic use by a further 30%. Other targets include:

• Identifying and supporting "persistently high users" (PHUs) in achieving reductions in antibiotic usage as detailed in a unit specific Antibiotic Reduction Plan agreed by producer and vet. PHUs will be defined as the top 5% of antibiotic users in each of the main categories of production recorded by eMB, except Boar Studs and Gilt Units, calculated using the last four quarters’ rolling data.
• Developing a best-practice plan for weaner management, against the backdrop of a likely ban on therapeutic zinc oxide.
• Encouraging the move from in-feed to in-water administration of antibiotics.

*The metric the pig sector uses is the milligram per kilogram per population correction unit or mg/kg PCU – this can be considered as the average quantity of active ingredient sold per kilogram bodyweight of food-producing animal in the UK based on an estimated weight.