A Review On Antibiotics In An Animal Feed

Food safety is a term broadly applied to food quality that may adversely affect human health. There are two major areas of concern over the presence of residues of antibiotics in animal-derived foodstuffs with regard to human health. The first is allergic reaction and the second is development of antibiotic resistance in the gut bacteria of human. Antibiotic resistance in human pathogens is now a major public health issue. Some of the resistance problem can be attributed to the transfer of resistant bacteria from animals to human and the transfer of resistance genes from animal pathogens and commensal bacteria to human pathogens. Control measures include improvements in food hygiene to reduce the spread of zoonotic bacteria to human via the food chain. However, to specifically address the issue, the livestock industries and their advisors must reduce and refine the use of antibiotics in animal production and replace antibiotics with alternative disease control measures as much as possible. In addition, the medical profession must control misuse and overuse of antibiotics in hospitals and community practice. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjas.v38i1-2.9909 BJAS 2009; 38(1-2): 22-32