Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Sustainability

Antimicrobial use in livestock farming

Nature Food volume 4, page 138 (2023)Cite this article

Now, Ranya Mulchandani, from ETH Zurich, and colleagues have gathered data on AMU in food animals from 42 countries to estimate the global usage of such substances in 2020 and 2030. Herd sizes (including cattle, sheep, chicken and pigs) were calculated based on data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization; country reports of veterinary AMU, regional totals from the World Organization for Animal Health, and on-farm surveys were combined with multivariate regression models to produce estimates for 229 countries and territories in 2020. Maps of animal densities and AMU at 10 × 10-km resolution were used to quantify and identify geographic AMU hotspots.

Total AMU in 2020 was estimated at 99,502 tonnes (95% CI 68,535–198,052) and was projected to increase by 8% to 107,472 tonnes (95% CI 75,927–202,661) by 2030. Hotspots of AMU were mainly found in Asia (67%), while less than 1% were in Africa. Higher global AMU was found in 2030 compared to prior projections that used data from 2017; according to the study, this is likely associated with an upward revision of AMU in Asia and Oceania (approximately 6,000 tonnes) and the Americas (approximately 4,000 tonnes). Apart from revealing which countries must take more stringent action against abusive AMU, these findings underscore the need for better country-level reporting and monitoring.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nature Food https://www.nature.com/natfood/

    Juliana Gil

Authors
  1. Juliana Gil
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juliana Gil.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gil, J. Antimicrobial use in livestock farming. Nat Food 4, 138 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00713-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00713-0

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing