Responsible use of antibiotics - Chickens, turkeys and hens

This requirement can be followed up by carrying out a spot check. 

It may be appropriate to prioritise the monitoring of raw material from chickens, turkeys and hens where antibiotic use, in accordance with the requirement, is not already regulated in national legislation. 
In Sweden, the use of medicinal products is regulated in 

• Chapter 7(12) of the Regulation amending the Swedish Board of Agriculture’s regulations and general recommendations on obligations for animal keepers and animal health staff (SJVFS 2022:2)
• Chapter 1(2–4) and Chapter 2(11) of the Swedish Board of Agriculture’s regulations on medicinal products and the use of medicinal products (SJVFS 2019:32).

This can be done, for example, by checking one of the following:

Certification
If the requirement has been verified by means of a certification, follow-up is possible by checking that there is a valid certificate for the product. This is checked on the website of the relevant labelling organisation, such as Svensk Fågel.

Control and animal welfare programmes
If the requirement has been verified by means of an animal welfare programme, follow up by asking for one of the following, for example:

• Certificate of compliance verified by an accredited verification body. 
• Extracts from inspection records, practice records, barnstable records and/or medicinal product records certifying compliance with the requirement, including documentation of antibiotic use.
• Use of medicinal products in the flock in question according to the Food Chain Information (FCI) declaration via the slaughterhouse.

Examples of questions that your supplier may be asked when monitoring the antibiotic criterion for chickens, turkeys and hens. These questions are taken from Axfoundation’s industry agreement on antibiotics.

1. Are antibiotics used for growth promotion purposes prohibited by national, transnational, regional or certification regulations?
2. Are antibiotics guaranteed not to be used routinely in any of the following ways?
Routine group medication to prevent jaundice inflammation (up to about 2 weeks of age), diarrhoeal diseases, respiratory diseases and various types of arthritis
3. Is the veterinary surgeon responsible for diagnosis, choice of treatment and prescribing according to national, transnational, regional or certification regulations?
4. Do national, regional or certification regulations prohibit the use of third and fourth generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones when an effective alternative exists?
5. What evidence is there to support the above? Such as extracts from legislation, certification regulations, veterinary records, inspection report from the County Administrative Board’s site inspection of medicinal products on farms, or other documentation.

Note that this criterion should not be used together with Requirement ID 11246 and Requirement ID 11247, which include the same requirements as this criterion, but also further restrict antibiotic treatment.

High use of antibiotics in the production of animal products is associated with increased development of resistance to antibiotics. The use of antibiotics in the production of animal products should therefore be limited wherever possible. However, it still needs to be possible to treat sick animals with antibiotics, but antibiotics shall not be used to promote growth or prevent disease. Action by individual producers to reduce the overall use of antibiotics in production is therefore imperative.

According to Regulation (EU) 2019/06 of the European Parliament and of the Council on veterinary medicinal products, which came into force in January 2022, medicinal products containing antibiotics used in animals are subject to prescription. Routine use of antibiotics is not permitted, nor is their use permitted to compensate for poor hygiene, poor animal husbandry, poor care or poor farm management. Antibiotics may not be used in animals to promote growth or increase yields. As a general rule, the regulation prohibits what is known as prophylactic treatment with antibiotics. Prophylactic treatment is the treatment of an animal or group of animals before clinical signs of disease appear, with a view to preventing the onset of a disease or infection. In exceptional cases, prophylactic treatment may be permitted for an individual animal when the risk of infection or spread of a communicable disease is very high and the consequences are likely to be serious. Metaphylaxis is a treatment of a group of animals where disease has been diagnosed in parts of the group, with a view to treating the sick animals and limiting the spread of the disease to animals in close contact and at risk that may already be infected. This treatment is only permitted in cases where there is a high risk of transmission of the disease to the other animals and no other suitable alternatives are available. 

Coccidiostats are defined as feed additives and do not pose a risk of resistance as they are not used in human medical care. Coccidiostats are permitted in this criterion.

Third and fourth generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones are substances considered critically important for human medicine by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). As a general rule, veterinary prescription of these substances in Sweden assumes that a microbiological examination and resistance determination have shown that there is no effective alternative in accordance with Chapter 2(11) of the Swedish Board of Agriculture’s regulations on medicinal products and the use of medicinal products (SJVFS 2019:32). This criterion does not include the possibility of exemption from microbiological examination, thus going beyond current legislation.

The version date indicates when the sustainability criterion was created or last updated. Last reviewed dated tells when we last checked that the sustainability criterion still is relevant.

2023-04-18 KravID 11245:1: Changed to contract terms, was earlier technical specifiation.Changed name, was previous called Action plan for reduced use of antibiotics. The requirement includes hens. Rephrased requirement text to harmonize withe other criteria areas.