Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Veterinary Medicines Directorate on retaining the use of antibiotics in medicated feed for the prevention of disease in the pig sector.

Defra, through its Executive Agency, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), is working with the livestock industry and the animal feed sector to ensure good stewardship of antibiotics, regardless of the administration route, notably through the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA). In the pig sector, the VMD is a member of the Pig Health and Welfare Council’s antimicrobial usage subgroup and provides the secretariat.

In October, RUMA published sector specific antibiotic use reduction targets. The targets for the pig sector noted that the need for targeted prophylaxis will remain to protect the health and welfare of pigs but that habitual or routine prophylaxis (a “just in case” approach) should be rapidly phased out. The Government endorses these antibiotic use reduction targets.