The Dutch success model

Routine use of antibiotics in animals has been a common but controversial practice in meat production for decades.

While scientific studies have shown a direct link between the use of antibiotics in animals and resistant bacteria on farms and in the outside world, the large scale food production industry has repeatedly rejected claims stating that reducing the use of antibiotics would reduce productivity and increase costs for food production.

In the Netherlands, relatively low levels of antibiotics are used in human medicine but in the past, significant amounts of antibiotics were used at livestock farms. Despite awareness of the negative consequences of irrational use of antibiotics in animals, total therapeutic antimicrobial use in farm animals doubled between 1990 and 2007.

Human and animal health in focus

In 2009, an extremely resistant infection was spreading in gut flora across the Netherlands and the source was found to be ESBL-producing bacteria from food animals. This formed a window of opportunity leading farmers in the Netherlands to decide that animal health and human health would be a priority. The Dutch minister of agriculture stepped up and formed a new policy, outlawing the preventive use of antibiotics, requiring veterinarian inspection before their use. The new policy also mandated the overall reduction in antibiotic usage by 20% in the first year and 50% in three years. The outcome was remarkable, sales in antibiotics to livestock farms dropped 56% from 2007 to 2012 and without any big consequences in efficiency, or financial returns. Dutch farmers have been stepping up to improve hygiene practices, to keep animals healthy in a natural way without the use of antibiotics. If the Netherlands can reduce the use of antibiotics with out damaging productivity, maybe other countries can follow suit.

A short film on the Netherlands experience of improving infection control and reducing the use of antibiotics can be seen here:

Selected Resources