The ACMF has updated its AMS Report to include results of its’ inaugural ‘Appropriateness of Use’ survey, and has also published a summary brochure, both of which are now available here on the ACMF website.
Dr Vivien Kite, Executive Director of the ACMF is pleased with the results and says that the chicken meat industry should be very proud of its efforts addressing AMR in Australia. “Industry takes its role preventing antimicrobial resistance development very seriously. We know we need to preserve the effectiveness of these precious resources for humans and animals alike.”
The Australian chicken meat industry has a long history of applying the principles of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS), well before formal stewardship was a practice widely discussed and understood. For over 40 years the chicken meat industry has played an active role in reducing the risks of antimicrobial resistance for the benefit of both human and animal health. National antimicrobial resistance surveillance in chickens demonstrate that these AMS efforts are contributing to levels of AMR bacteria from Australian meat chickens that compare very favourably with overseas results.
The ACMF has coordinated an antimicrobial usage survey of the six major Australian chicken companies with data collected since 2017. In 2021, the first ‘Appropriateness of Use Survey’ was conducted and will now be repeated annually to understand whether antibiotic usage is ‘appropriate’.
The chicken industry is committed to continuing their efforts to reduce, refine and replace the use of antimicrobials, and this is evident in the updated industry position statement on antibiotics. These efforts progress further the industry’s commitment to adhering to AMS principles, particularly in relation to disease prevention. The ACMF will continue to support the industry in these efforts by coordinating the national use benchmark survey (in meat chickens and breeders), the annual appropriateness of use survey, national AMR surveillance projects, developing projects to support refinement of those antimicrobials that are used, and coordinating activities across the livestock sectors to address AMS issues that are broader than chicken meat alone, through the Australian Animal Industries’ AMS RD&E Strategy.
For more information, see the ACMF website.
