A report written by a non-profit research center aligned with the organic food industry said, “The best choice that consumers can make to combat antibiotic resistance and protect themselves from antibiotic-resistant bacteria is to choose organic.” The Organic Center said techniques used by organic livestock producers could be adopted by conventional producers.
By definition, organic agriculture does not allow the use of antibiotics in livestock. The FDA is nearing the end of a three-year phase-out of the use of antibiotics that are medically important to humans to speed weight gain in food animals, including cattle, hogs and poultry. The antimicrobials will remain available to prevent and cure disease in livestock, which consume more than three-fourths of the antibiotics used in the United States.
“Studies from across Europe have demonstrated that banning various antibiotics for non-therapeutic use in livestock production can lead to a significant reduction in resistant bacteria in both humans and animals,” said the report, which also said that “widespread and indiscriminate administration of antibiotics to livestock is commonplace in conventional farming systems.”
The trade group Animal Health Institute said antibiotics “are a critical tool to prevent, control and treat disease in livestock. They make our food supply safer and people healthier. … Because antibiotic resistance is a public health concern, several layers of protection have been put in place to ensure that animal antibiotics do not affect public health.”