Plan to monitor antibiotics in food
Authorities from two Federal Government departments have started work on a national surveillance program to monitor the use of antibiotics in agriculture.
The Department of Health and Department of Agriculture met in Canberra to discuss the use of antibiotics in livestock industries such as pork, beef and chickens, and the incidence of antibiotic residues in imported foods.
Chief vet, Dr Mark Schipp says antibiotics are very important for animal health, welfare and productivity, but there is little information on residue or monitoring of their use.
"A draft report from the Australian Veterinary and Pet Medicines Authority says the use of antibiotics is static despite the increasing production of animal agriculture."
And he says withholding periods between treatment and the slaughter of animals provide stringent control.
"I think there is a misconception that there is extensive or flagrant use of antibiotics in agriculture and that's not the case. There are stringent controls in place."
Dr Schipp says Canada, Denmark and The Netherlands have national surveillance programs in place, but they are expensive.
"There hasn't been systematic surveillance in Australia for a period of time as each industry sector does its own monitoring."
Marilyn Cruikshank chairs the Antimicrobial Resistance Standing Committee, she says the rise of the super-bugs in the health system has risen concern for public health.
"There is an increase in antimicrobial resistance in people in hospital, which probably accounts for more than 80 percent of super-bugs.
"We're seeing a lot of evidence from overseas, in countries who have health and agricultural systems similar to ours, they've had some small but significant outbreaks of antimicrobial resistance in some of their food animals.
"We're trying to figure out how we can prevent this happening Australia get some evidence about which sort of food animals antimicrobial resistance could be a problem.
"We're looking at prevention rather than cure."
Dr Mark Schipp, Chief vet at the Department of Agriculture.
Marilyn Cruikshank, Chair of the Antimicrobial Resistance Standing Committee for the Department of Health.
Producer: Greg Muller