PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Livestock: Antibiotics (9 July 2015)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the oral Answer of the Minister of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the hon. Member for Camborne and Redruth, what comparative data she holds on farm antibiotic use in the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands, per population correction unit for (a) all and (b) each species of livestock.

Asked by:
Kerry McCarthy (Labour)

Data for veterinary antibiotics sold within the EU, including UK, Denmark and the Netherlands, is submitted annually to the European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (ESVAC) project.

Since 2010 ESVAC annually publish data collected from across the EU, the latest being the 2014 report showing 2012 data from 26 countries. To enable data to be comparable the report uses the mg/PCU protocol which takes into account differing livestock population sizes, including horses, and tonnes sold for food producing animals across the countries.

In my oral answer on 18 June (col.445) I said that the UK had a lower figure than countries like the Netherlands and Denmark. However, when comparing the mg/PCU figures from 2005-2012, I can confirm that the UK consistently had a lower figure than the Netherlands, but a slightly higher figure than Denmark.

When comparing the mg/PCU figures the UK continues to be a middle-to-low end country across the EU, this has remained stable since 2008.

The report does not show a breakdown by species.

Answered by:
George Eustice (Conservative)
16 July 2015