Updated research, supported by the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, was released this week quantifying the U.S. poultry industry’s on-farm antibiotic use. The updated report shows continued improved antibiotic stewardship and commitment to disease prevention within poultry production. As part of its commitment to the transparency and sustainability of a safe food supply, the poultry industry aims to strike a balance between the responsible use of antibiotics “medically important” to human health and keeping poultry flocks healthy.
“USPOULTRY’s board of directors has supported this research for many years, which emphasizes the continued focus on the judicious use of antibiotics in the poultry industry. We are thankful for the long-term involvement of so many of our members and other poultry organizations in this study,” remarked Nath Morris, president of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.
Under the research direction of Dr. Randall Singer, DVM, Ph.D., of Mindwalk Consulting Group, LLC and the University of Minnesota, this report represents an 11-year set of data collected from 2013 to 2023 for U.S. broiler chickens and turkeys and represents an eight-year set of data collected from 2016 to 2023 for layers. A prior report, covering 2013-2022, was released in December 2023. In addition, three peer-reviewed manuscripts were published by Dr. Singer in 2023 covering the data collected from broiler chickens, turkeys and layers.
Given several key differences among broiler chickens, turkeys and layers – namely differences in weight, life span, susceptibility to lifetime illness, the number of effective medical treatments available, etc. – these data should neither be combined nor compared between types of poultry.
Key changes among broiler chickens over the 2013-2023 period:
- Broiler chickens receiving antibiotics in the hatchery decreased from 90 percent (2013) to less than one percent (2023)
- Medically important in-feed antibiotic use in broiler chickens decreased substantially; there has been no in-feed tetracycline use since 2019, and virginiamycin use has decreased about 99 percent over the 11-year period
- Medically important water-soluble antibiotic use in broiler chickens decreased substantially from 2013-2017 and has increased slightly from 2017-2023. Increases were typically due to increased disease incidence, as seen in other countries as well, during the 2019-2023 period:
- penicillin use decreased by 64 percent from 2013-2019 but has increased 60 percent from 2019-2023 due to increases in gangrenous dermatitis incidence; overall, penicillin use decreased 42% from 2013-2023
- lincomycin use decreased by 66 percent from 2013-2020 but has increased 11 percent from 2020-2023 due to increases in gangrenous dermatitis incidence; overall, lincomycin use decreased 62% from 2013-2023
- tetracycline use decreased by 70 percent since 2013
- sulfonamide use decreased by 82 percent since 2013
Key Changes Among Turkeys Over the 2013-2023 Period:
- Turkeys receiving antibiotics in the hatchery decreased from 97 percent (2013) to approximately 40 percent (2023)
- Hatchery gentamicin use decreased approximately 48 percent from 2013 to 2023
- Medically important in-feed antibiotic use in turkeys decreased substantially; in-feed tetracycline use decreased more than 58 percent over the 11-year period
- Medically important water-soluble antibiotic use in turkeys decreased substantially from 2013-2019 and then stabilized or increased from 2019-2023. Increases were typically due to increased disease incidence, as seen in other countries as well, during the 2019-2023 period:
- penicillin use decreased by almost 53 percent since 2013
- lincomycin use decreased by 58 percent from 2013 to 2019 but then increased substantially from 2020-2023 due to increases in gangrenous dermatitis incidence and a shortage of penicillin
- neomycin use decreased by 53 per since 2013
- tetracycline use decreased 19 percent overall from 2013-2023, but there was an increase from 2019-2023, largely due to increases in colibacillosis and secondary infections following avian metapneumovirus exposure
Key findings among layer chickens over the 2016-2023 period:
- Layer chickens (hens) typically begin laying eggs around 20 weeks of age and end when the layer hen is around 80 to 100 weeks of age.
- Table egg production is similar to milk production, where the product for human consumption is produced on a daily basis. Most antibiotics that could be administered to layer hens have withdrawal periods that would prevent all eggs produced during this period from entering the food supply. This is one reason why little antibiotic is used in table egg production in the U.S.
- All chicks in the dataset received gentamicin in the hatchery (day one of age).
- In the U.S., the majority of chicks purchased by egg companies are sourced from hatcheries that are owned and operated by genetics companies.
- The primary medically important antibiotic used in layer hens for treatment and control of disease in this dataset was chlortetracycline (CTC), used in part because it has a zero-day withdrawal, meaning that there is no loss of eggs during the treatment period.
- CTC was only administered via the feed in pullets (day 2 through 16 to 18 weeks of age) and layer hens
- The majority (>95 percent) of CTC was used in the layer hens for treatment of disease, and no pullets in the dataset were given CTC in the feed during 2022 or 2023
- Less than 0.1 percent of total hen-days were exposed to CTC
This project is funded with multiple annual grants from U.S. Poultry & Egg Association. The project was also partly supported from 2016 to 2023 under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Beginning in September 2024, a new cooperative agreement between FDA-CVM and Dr. Singer was initiated, thus continuing the public-private partnership for this effort.
Details of the study can be found here. The updated infographic report can be found here.
