Livestock: Antibiotics

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 14 December 2017.

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Photo of Rehman Chishti Rehman Chishti Conservative, Gillingham and Rainham

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to increase penalties for animal antibiotic or drug abuse for animals destined for food.

Photo of George Eustice George Eustice The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

There are no plans to increase penalties for such offences, which are covered by the Veterinary Medicine Regulations and the Animals and Animal Products (Examination for Residues and Maximum Residue Limits) Regulations.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate operates a UK-wide surveillance programme in accordance with the requirements of Council Directive 96/23/EC, which analyses over 30,000 samples from food producing animals every year for residues of veterinary medicinal products and unauthorised substances, including antibiotics.

Where non-compliance with the legislation is found during a follow-up investigation, the producer or keeper presenting the animals or animal produce for the food chain can be referred to the Rural Payments Agency, which can deduct a proportion of their single farm payment for breaching EU CAP cross-compliance rules. Prosecution is considered in the most serious breaches of the legislation.

Results show that the majority of farmers, in conjunction with their advising veterinarians, are using veterinary medicines responsibly.

Results and a summary of follow-up investigations into non-compliant samples are on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/residues-of-veterinary-medicines-in-food-2017. These are updated every two months. A summary of annual results for 2011-2017 is at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/residues-statutory-and-non-statutory-surveillance-results.

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