The International Poultry Council has pledged to tackle antibiotic resistance in food producing animals.

• As previously covered on this blog, for years, FDA, USDA, and various stakeholders have grappled with how to address concerns about the use of medically important antibiotics to promote growth or feed efficiency in food-producing animals.  This issue has now become a hot topic on the global stage.  For example, on September 21, 2016, the United Nations held a ministerial meeting on antimicrobial resistance.

• Most recently, during a conference last week in Estoril, Portugal, the International Poultry Council, which represents about 80 percent of the world’s poultry production, and about 95 percent of global trade in poultry meat, pledged to tackle antibiotic resistance in food producing animals.  IPC President Jim Sumner (also president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council), noted that the “IPC recognizes the need for collaborative efforts among governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and the poultry sector to minimize the development and transfer of antibiotic resistance.”

• It remains to be seen whether and how the IPC’s position will affect producers’ efforts to work with their respective governments to reduce the use of medically important antimicrobials in food animals.