Britain’s farming leaders are urging the government to clamp down on the illegal use of powerful antibiotics following a Guardian investigation that found evidence that the MRSA superbug – linked to the overuse of such medicines in livestock – had entered the UK’s food chain.

Zoe Davies, the chief executive of the National Pig Association, an affiliate of the National Farmers’ Union, said: “[We are] very concerned to see that you were able to buy Tylan [a powerful antibiotic] on the internet. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) and industry wholeheartedly agree that any illegal selling of antibiotics on the internet should be stopped immediately.”

What is the superbug LA-MRSA CC398 and why is it spreading on farms? Read more

She said she would be taking up the matter with the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), the government agency in charge of farm animal health.

The Guardian was able to buy antibiotics intended for use on livestock only under strict medical direction over the internet. It is legal to do so, but it is illegal for farmers to use them on their livestock unless they have a prescription from a vet. It is not known how many farmers may be buying the drugs online and using them unsupervised.

John Fitzgerald, the secretary general of the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance, said: “The sale and use of antibiotics for use in animals is highly regulated, with only veterinary surgeons permitted to prescribe them and only vets or pharmacists permitted to supply them.

“Sales of antibiotics via the internet are permitted, but only legal if they are to fulfil a veterinary prescription and the internet supply is authorised by a vet or pharmacist. Any purchase made without a prescription is illegal and should be reported to the UK regulator.”

The scare over MRSA in pork shows responsible farming isn’t a luxury – it’s a necessity | Joanna Blythman Read more

The Guardian’s investigation uncovered a strain of the MRSA superbug associated with pigs in nine out of 100 samples of pork purchased in several UK supermarkets. A separate investigation carried out by a Cambridge University scientist, commissioned by the campaigning group Save Our Antibiotics, found the bacteria in two out of 52 samples of UK-produced pork.

Livestock-associated MRSA can live harmlessly on the skin of many people who become infected, but it can cause serious illness in vulnerable people. At least five people are known to have died of the disease in Denmark, where it is rife on pig farms.

Proper cooking will kill the bacteria if it is present in pork products and the risk of infection from food is regarded as low, but lapses in kitchen hygiene could expose people to the germ.

Kerry McCarthy, the Labour MP for Bristol East, tabled a parliamentary question to the government on what the response would be to the findings.

She said: “MRSA of a livestock origin is not only likely [based on these results] to be well established within the UK pig herd, but has for the first time been found in British retail pork, from which it could be passed to humans.

“In the light of this new and extremely troubling evidence, will the Department [for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] now finally set clear targets for phasing out routine preventative use of antibiotics in farm animals where no disease has been diagnosed, or is the minister happy to take the risk of a post-antibiotic future?”

Pigs that are intensively reared, which make up the majority of the UK’s herds, are often given antibiotics soon after birth, because piglets are weaned much earlier than is natural so that the sows can be impregnated more often.

When weaned too early, piglets are highly susceptible to diarrhoea and bowel infections, which are treated using antibiotics. The routine use of antibiotics on farm animals is outlawed in the EU, but some experts argue that the early weaning of piglets leads to their overuse.

The Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith also called for action. “The recent finding of MRSA in retail pork is a new and worrying development in the unfolding calamity of human antibiotic resistance. However, in the context of widespread, routine misuse of antibiotics in farming, it is not surprising.

“Without immediate action to stop routine prophylactic use of antibiotics on our farms, we risk propelling ourselves to a point where straightforward operations and procedures [in human medicine] are too dangerous to carry out.”

Campaigners on farming and animal welfare were also vocal in their response to the Guardian’s findings, calling for stricter regulation of the farm use of antibiotics and warning on food safety.

Tracy Worcester, of Farms Not Factories, said: “This confirms that intensive, indoor pig rearing is a defective system that cannot operate without routine overuse of antibiotics. Government negligence along with the complicity of the veterinary profession have allowed antibiotics to become an integral part of intensive pig rearing, and this has led to antibiotic-resistant superbugs that bring us ever closer to the end of antibiotics as a cure for human diseases.”

MRSA superbug found in supermarket pork raises alarm over farming risks Read more

She advised people to buy organic pork rather than conventionally reared meat. The Guardian did not test organic pork products in its investigation.

Professor Jan Kluytmans, a Dutch expert on the issue, urged the British government to investigate the Guardian’s findings thoroughly, by conducting testing on UK farms.

He said: “These findings in retail meat are highly suggestive of a reservoir [of MRSA infection] and a thorough investigation is warranted. Livestock-associated MRSA is able to cause serious and invasive infections in humans and is clearly related to an extensive reservoir in animals in the Netherlands and other countries.”



Alex Jackson, the coordinator of the Campaign for Better Hospital Food, said the results were worrying for patients in hospitals, where human strains of MRSA have been a major problem for years.

“If MRSA has been found in supermarket meat then undoubtedly it’s also in cheaply made hospital food containing factory-farmed meat,” he said.

“This is a huge worry for the NHS, which is rightly vigilant about the threat posed by superbugs to patient health. We need political leadership to get us out of this mess. The government must take action to ensure that precious antibiotics are being used to keep people alive, not prop up a Frankenstein farming system set up to make profit, not good food.”

