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antibiotic free turkey production
Main turkey meat producing countries in Europe are Poland, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. With roughly 1.8 million tons produced, these countries represent 86% of total EU turkey meat production. With an average consumption of 4kg per capita per year in Europe over the last two years, consumption of turkey meat remains stable.
The third largest producer of turkey meat in Europe is France, producing 355 000 tons of turkey meat in 2018. Unfortunately, as turkeys are very susceptible to various diseases in general, the antibiotic usage in conventional farms is still high. Intestinal disorders are a primary cause of antibiotic treatments, consisting of 60% of the total use. Average mortality in French turkey farms ranges from 5 to 9.8%. Consequently, we could conclude a turkey is treated with antibiotics during 10% of its lifetime, responsible for quite some antibiotic resistance. A very high resistance (50-70%) for E. Coli to tetracycline and ampicillin, is noticed. Resistance for E. Coli to trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole is high (20-50% of strains are resistant). Low resistance of E. Coli (1-10%) for cefotaxime, ceftazidime and colistin is observed (AMR report EFSA, 2018).
Nevertheless, pushed by those antibiotic resistance numbers and customer demands, 11.7% of turkey farms is using a zero-antibiotic strategy. Establishing such a policy on farm requires cooperation at different levels. An active involvement of and cooperation in between the farmer, the veterinarian, the feed company (nutritionist) and suppliers of alternative solutions is needed. Implementation of different solutions and tools such as vaccination, health supplements in feed and via drinking water, change in management and housing and correct biosecurity measures can contribute to this zero-antibiotic policy.
A nice example of implementing a successful antibiotic reduction strategy on farm can be consulted in below article, it is a peer reviewed article on antibiotic reduction in livestock.
