Campaigners are calling on retailers to ensure responsible antibiotic use for all meat and dairy products they sell, after research has revealed that many do not have the right policies in place.
A new report by the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics reveals that not all animal-based foods on the shelves are covered by the supermarkets’ antibiotics policies.
Often imported, branded or processed products are not covered, the groups says, meaning that retailers could be selling meat, dairy or eggs produced with the misuse of antibiotics.
Scientists fear that antibiotic resistance, caused by the overuse of antibiotics in humans and livestock, is increasing at a faster rate than previously realised.
According to the medical journal The Lancet, in 2019 it was directly responsible for the deaths of more than one and a quarter million people worldwide and linked with the deaths of nearly five million people.
Almost 30,000 people have signed the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics' petition calling on the big eight UK supermarkets to ban farm antibiotic misuse from their stores.
The alliance handed in the petition to the retailers on Friday morning (18 February), calling on them to urgently improve the scope of their antibiotics policies.
It asks each to ensure their policies cover all animal products, regardless of country of origin or product line.
The campaign group also calls on firms to only sell branded products that have been produced with the responsible use of antibiotics.
The supermarkets urged to take action include Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Lidl, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose.
The alliance’s scientific advisor, Cóilín Nunan said they needed to ensure that the standards they set applied equally to imported and branded food.
"This is particularly important now that government is seeking to reach new trade deals with non-EU countries which often have weak regulations governing farm antibiotic use," he said.
“All ten leading supermarkets now have a prohibition on routine preventative antibiotic use for most or all of their British, own-brand fresh produce."
He added: "Supermarket actions have undoubtedly contributed to a significant reduction in British farm antibiotic use over the past six years, which is very welcome.
"However, our latest review found that these improvements did not cover the full range of products sold in the supermarkets.
"In particular they frequently did not apply to some or all imported, processed or branded products.”
