Antibiotic Use in Food-Animal Production in Denmark

Modern food animal production depends in large part on the use of antibiotics for disease control and growth promotion. This practice has left many in Denmark concerned about its potential effect on the efficacy of these important drugs. In 1969, the Swann committee recommended that those antibiotics used for the treatment of infections in animals and humans not be used as growth promoters, a policy that was partly adopted by the European Union as a whole. Still, during the early 1990s more antibiotics were used to promote growth than to treat infections in Denmark. During this same time, researchers at the Danish Veterinary Laboratory noticed an increase in the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance among bacteria causing infections in animals. Following this, and the discovery in 1994 and 1995 that the use of the glycopeptide avoparcin for growth promotion was associated with the occurrence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), Danish authorities implemented a number of initiatives. Among them has been the establishment of an integrated surveillance program, including an effort to monitor the use of antimicrobials in food animal production. The Danish Integrated Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring Program (DANMAP) for surveillance was established in 1995. Information gathered has formed the basis of practical recommendations for veterinary use of antimicrobial agents, and the use of Antibiotic Use in Food-Animal Production in Denmark