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Food Safety and Pig Production in Denmark
By Professor J Verner Wheelock and Charlotte Foster - This extensive report commissioned by The Danish Bacon & Meat Council examines Danish controls on antibiotics, veterinary medicines and Salmonella, and is supported by an analysis of systems and legislation in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia.
Key points in the report:
The Danish pig industry has worked closely with the authorities to achieve substantial reductions in the amounts of antibiotics used in pig production. Currently, the average amount of antibiotics used is less than 4g/pig. This is very much less than for other countries, where estimates indicate that usage may be up to 10 times more than in Denmark.A critical factor is that detailed information on all the medicines prescribed by veterinarians is available through the VetStat registration system, which was launched 2 years ago. This means that the quality of the data in Denmark compares very favourably with that of most other countries, which rely on estimates based on sales information provided by the manufacturers.
Since the beginning of 2000, antibiotic growth promoters have not been used in Danish pig production. The report describes the impact of this ban on antibiotic growth promoters.
This low usage of antibiotics has been made possible because of effective controls on zoonoses. The nationwide Salmonella surveillance and control system was established in 1995. Latest figures show that 97% of all herds producing over 200 pigs were virtually free of Salmonella.
The report concludes:
"When these programmes are examined in a global context, it is evident that the Danish industry has progressed much further than most other developed nations involved in large-scale animal production"."The World Health Organisation has devised Global Principles for the Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance in Animals intended for Food which are essentially recommendations to reduce the overuse and misuse of antimicrobials in food animals for the protection of public health. Denmark can be regarded as a model to which other countries aspire".
Further information
In agreement with the authors, ThePigSite.com will, over the coming months, be publishing (on the web site) the most relevant aspects of this report in a series of articles.In the meantime, if you would like to receive a copy of this 89 page (MS Word) report, please email us at with your details (name and email address) and we will request a copy be sent to you.
Source: Verner Wheelock - 30th October 2002
