Global Efforts to Prevent Antibiotic-Resistant Foodborne Pathogens in Developing Countries

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recently reported that 45 countries (among 155 countries that participated in its survey between 2015 and 2017) still use antibiotics for growth promotion in animals. Modern agriculture is associated with an increase in the use of antimicrobials (antibiotics). The responsible use of antibiotics is important to ensure food safety and food security. However, the inappropriate, unnecessary, and overuse (70% of the global increase in antibiotic use in food animals, in the next two decades, will be in developing countries) of antibiotics in food-producing animals has significantly jeopardized their effects by creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria.