GUELPH - It doesn’t seem to make much difference on the
prevalence of antibiotic resistance at the time of chick placement whether
chickens are raised to organic standards, without the use of antibiotics, or in
typical commercial operations.
Tara Roberts, a doctoral student at the University of Guelph
under the supervision of Michele Guerin, briefly outlined what her research has
revealed so far during a meeting for poultry-industry leaders, a meeting
organized by the Poultry Industry Council and the Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture and Food.
"For bacteria such as E. coli,
the only statistical difference Roberts identified between production system
types was that the risk of resistance to trimethoprim-sulfa was lower for
flocks raised without antibiotics compared to conventionally-raised flocks, and
that this difference was based on environmental samples collected from empty
barns immediately before chick placement."
Other than that, the bacteria in commercially-raised,
organically-raised and antibiotic-free management all showed some degree of
resistance to the full spectrum of products the poultry industry uses to
counter harmful bacteria.
Her results have led her to conclude that antimicrobial
resistance is a complex issue.
She said she’s pleased that the Canadian broiler chicken
industry is involved in a nation-wide surveillance program on antimicrobial
resistance.
It tracks management practices, the incidence of
antimicrobial resistance and other key factors that could point to ways to
reduce antimicrobial resistance and therefore any threat that might pose to the
health of people.
