A 2021 report produced by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) noted that for the first time in Europe, the overall consumption of antibiotics and other antimicrobials in food-producing animals was lower than in humans. However, the report also confirmed the association between antimicrobial consumption and antimicrobial resistance (AMR): "For certain combinations of bacteria and antimicrobials, resistance in bacteria from humans was associated with resistance in bacteria from food-producing animals which, in turn, was related to antimicrobial consumption in animals."1
It is known that the overuse of antibiotics in livestock raised for food can seriously affect human health and fuel AMR by decreasing the effectiveness of medications used for treating bacterial infections. Without effective antimicrobials, common infections will become life-threatening and certain treatments (including surgical procedures and chemotherapy) will not be possible.2 Infections, such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and salmonellosis "…are already showing increasing resistance to antibiotic treatment,"3 and the use of antibiotics in the livestock sector is one of the primary causes.4