Haley Evans

Feeding a Growing World

         By 2050, the world’s population is expected to reach nine billion people. This brings about a huge concern of food security. Farmers will need to produce more food, on less land. This means using antibiotics in livestock is crucial to feeding the world. Unfortunately, using antibiotics in livestock gets a bad reputation. More and more people are following the antibiotic free trend. This is because consumers are misinformed about the agricultural industry today. I believe that this is one of the biggest problems in modern day agriculture.

Poultry is the number one consumed meat in the United States. Many food business’s will advertise their poultry as antibiotic free. Chipotle and Subway are huge culprits of this. The modern-day poultry industry never uses antibiotics while raising broilers though. It takes about 8 weeks for a broiler to reach market weight. The farmer will make approximately six dollars per chicken. If one of his chickens were to become sick, he would lose more money treating it with antibiotics, and waiting for the withdrawal time. That is why the modern-day poultry industry is antibiotic free.

The dairy, beef, sheep, and pork industry’s commonly use antibiotics while raising their livestock. The gestation period for cattle is the same as humans. That means it takes nine month to get new hooves on the ground. Calves will weigh about seventy pounds when they’re born, and are worth at least $200. Like all young animals, their immune systems are not strongly developed. They often get sick. A farmer is not going to let his calf die of a bacterial disease, if it can be cured, its common sense. It’s money down the drain, and food lost to feed the world if he does.

Many consumers think that antibiotic use in livestock is helping antibiotic resistant diseases in humans. Tetracycline and Ionophores combined are antibiotics used 70% of the time in animal agriculture. Tetracycline is only used 4% of the time in human medicine and Ionophores are never used in human medicine. This means they contribute very little to human diseases that are antibiotic resistant. Therefore, antibiotic use in livestock has little effect on humans.

A common misconception consumers often have is that meat raised with antibiotics is harmful for human consumption. However, all meat is antibiotic free when the animal is slaughtered. A withdrawal date is the period in which the animal still has drug residue in its system. At the end of the withdrawal date, the animal is drug free and able to go to market. Withdrawal dates are regulated by the FDA and USDA, and taken very seriously.  This insures that your meat is safe for consumption when raised on antibiotics.

The bottom line is, your food is safe if it is raised on antibiotics. All meat is technically antibiotic free. The knowledge gap between farm and plate, is why consumers often think from a different perspective than agriculturalist. It’s a constant battle in a world where food security is a growing problem. Whether you agree with the use of antibiotics or not in livestock it is important to remember, farmers are not out to hurt consumers. Farmers are just trying to do their best to feed a growing world.