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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the level of risk to human health of antimicrobial-resistant superbugs originating from industrial farms.

Resistant bacteria and/or resistance genes can transfer between people and animals in both directions. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate, along with other governmental partners, conducts two surveillance schemes for AMR in animals, including regular monitoring of AMR in major food-producing species: pigs and poultry. The results of these surveillance schemes are published annually in the UK Veterinary Antibiotic Resistance and Sales and Surveillance Report.

Since 2014, the UK has reduced sales of veterinary antibiotics by 55% since 2014, and over this same period the UK have seen overall trend of decreasing antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from animals. The UK has a cross-government contingency plan in place which acts as an early warning system for resistant bacteria found in animals with potential risk to animal and public health.