Meat Industry Increases Use of Antibiotics, Despite FDA Guidelines

To supply the constant demand for meat, the meat industry has been using antibiotics on their livestock to help them grow faster. Despite the fact that there have been rules imposed to control the use of antibiotics on animals, the US Food and Drug Administration has published a report showing that the sales of these antibiotics are climbing.

The sales of antibiotics had grown by 23 percent from 2009 to 2014, raising questions about the risks of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. During that time, the number of cows and pigs raised on US farms fell, while a number of chickens stayed constant. Mother Jones explained that these FDA reports indicate that the meat industry is becoming more antibiotic dependent. 

Since 2013, the FDA has been creating guidelines for antibiotic manufacturers and agricultural companies to voluntarily phase out antibiotic use to enhance growth in livestock. They recommended using the drugs only to treat sickness and to reduce their use in general by December 2016.

Because of these reports of sales of antibiotics, it seems that companies and manufacturers are ignoring the FDA's guidelines, which could possibly allow antibiotic resistant bacteria a chance to grow. There was also an increase of three percent in the use of medically important antibiotic use, reinforcing the impression.

The debate over the use of antibiotics is a difficult one. Many public health advocates, who include scientists, strongly believe that the overuse of antibiotics in livestock will create a surge of antibiotic resistant bacteria. But those raising the livestock say that they need to use the drugs in order for their animals to stay healthy and to increase the quantity of meat available for US consumers.

Fortune spoke with Avinash Kar, the Natural Resources Defense Councils' senior attorney about the use of antibiotics. He said, "Dangerous overuse of antibiotics by the agricultural industry has been on the rise at an alarming rate in recent years, putting the effectiveness of our life-saving drugs in jeopardy for people when they get sick."

Fortune also spoke with Ron Phillips, spokesman for the Animal Health Institute, who believes that these reports aren't necessarily indicative of an increase of antibiotic resistance saying, "Sales does not equal use and use is not the same thing as resistance." The Animal Health Institute represents some drug manufacturers such as Zoetic, Merck Animal Health, and Eli Lilly.

However, companies such as McDonalds have taken some steps to reduce the need for "drug supported" livestock by phasing out their own purchases of antibiotic chicken. Reviewed.com reported that Subway, Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, and Panera Bread are also following suit.

Despite the reports of the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria worldwide, the meat industry does not seem to want to believe that they could be contributing to the problem. It looks like it comes down to the consumer and the restaurants that buy their products to start encouraging a reduction of antibiotic use.