A study released on June 1st 2019, conducted by the Foods Standards Agency of the U.K. Government, demonstrated the benefit of banning administration of specific antibiotics to livestock. The 2018 study surveying retail meats was conducted in compliance with the E.U. Harmonized Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance RDFS102109. Samples assayed included whole chicken, chicken breast, leg quarters and drumsticks with and without skin.
A sharp reduction in E.coli resistant to cefotaxime, a third-generation cephalosporin was observed compared to the previous study conducted in 2016. In the present study 42 E.coli samples out of 309 were resistant to cefotaxime with three different resistance genes identified. None of the isolates from poultry meat demonstrated the presence of carbapenem or colistin resistance.
In 2012, the British Poultry Council banned the use of third and fourth-generation cephalosporin for flocks producing poultry meat in the U.K.
