It’s been a month and a half since new Health Canada rules began requiring poultry producers to reduce antibiotic use.
The new regulations came into effect Dec. 1, but Chicken Farmers of Canada has had an antimicrobial use strategy for five years starting by voluntarily eliminating the use of Category 1 products as a preventive medicine as of May 2014. This included products like ceftiofur hydrochloride (Excenel).
As part of the sector’s on-farm food safety program, Raised by a Canadian Farmer, the next step was to reduce the use of Category 2 drugs by the end of 2018, including medicines like virginiamycin and penicillin.
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By 2020, Category 3 antibiotic use should not be used as preventive medicine. Reducing Category Three antibiotics in 2020 covers products like bacitracim to treat coccidiosis and chronic necrotic enteritis.
“There will be a reassessment of that goal in 2019 to make sure we are on track to meet it,” said Steven Leech, co-ordinator of food safety and animal welfare with Chicken Farmers of Canada.
The overall strategy covers all parts of the industry from the hatchery to the finished chicken. The goal is to eliminate antibiotics that are medically important to humans without compromising the birds.
“The key part of that strategy is to maintain the use of those antibiotics for treatment and to maintain the use of those antimicrobials in Category Four like ionophores to maintain their use,” he said.
Health Canada ranks antibiotics from Category 1-4 based on their importance to human medicine. Category 1 is of the highest importance while Four is least important.
The industry wanted a sustainable strategy that meets consumer concerns and maintains health and welfare of the birds.
“These are antibiotics that were used preventively but also for an animal health and welfare perspective. The key concerns we have are around necrotic enteritis and the ability to prevent and control chronic enteritis,” he said.
Research has been approved to examine what consumers expect with the use of antibiotics in poultry production.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency sets the protocols for poultry using the “raised without” label.
“There is a niche market for this product, without a doubt. It needs to be served but in terms of it being an overall concern for the public at large, that is not being reflected in the survey data,” Leech said.
The CFC does not have detailed statistics on how much is sold as antibiotic-free, organic or conventional production because the programs come through the processors based on market demand where consumers may have asked for a differentiated product.
“There is a lot of marketing going on at retail and at restaurants and it would be interesting to see how that progresses,” he said.
However the organization is funding research to look at improved biosecurity, feed alternatives, antibiotic use and resistance as well as vaccine for conditions like necrotic enteritis.
