November 6, 2023

UK's veterinary antibiotic sales at lowest level recorded

The sales of veterinary antibiotics in the United Kingdom are at the lowest level ever recorded, in a report published by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate on  November 1.

Figures, which were published in the latest UK-Veterinary Antimicrobial Resistance and Sales Surveillance (VARSS) Report, show that sales of antibiotics for use in food-producing animals fell by nearly 10% in the last year and have more than halved since 2014. Sales of the highest-priority antibiotics due to their critical importance to human health remain at extremely low levels.

Antibiotic usage in swine in 2022 decreased nearly 17% from the year prior and was at 71.8mg/kg. The use of highest priority critically important antibiotics in swine was at 0.01mg/kg, down 67% from the year prior.

- UK Government