We are afraid of our food. Who can blame us? The threat of avian flu and mad cow disease still lingers, genetically modified foods may cause health complications, and our own fruit, vegetables and meat have unacceptably high levels of pesticides and antibiotics.
Public demand for safe food is on the increase. Only those who can afford it can choose between a free-range chicken and a commercially produced one that may harbour all sorts of nasties.
Poultry is the cheapest form of animal protein but in South Africa it may not be the healthiest. Consumers are increasingly aware that some of the antibiotics administered in commercial chicken farming are also used in treating humans.
European Union legislation prohibits the use of antibiotic growth enhancers. In South Africa, how- ever, commercial poultry producers regularly use antibiotics at a sub-therapeutic or low-dose level to keep disease-causing bacteria at bay. This means that the chicken shares its food with fewer bugs and so grows better.
Furthermore, the host animal does not expend energy to fight off illness and can use food nutrients for growth instead. According to Professor Gerry Swan, head of the Antibiotic Work Group in Pretoria, as much as 40% of antibiotics used in commercial poultry farming are administered as growth enhancers via feed.
The potential danger of antibiotic growth promotion in food animals revolves around crafty bugs building up resistance to antibiotics that are used in both poultry farming and treating humans. The low-dose administration of an antibiotic growth promoter kills the weaker bacteria in the animal but gives the stronger strains a resistance. Resistant bacteria can then be passed on to humans from poultry either by handling raw meat or through consumption of undercooked chicken. These now-resistant “super bugs” easily outwit the same antibiotic that is used to treat a person afflicted with a food-borne bacteria such as salmonella, for example.
Virginiamycin is an antibiotic that is used as a poultry growth enhancer in South Africa and the United States. The American journal Clinical Infectious Diseases suggests that “humans are acquiring resistant organisms through the consumption of poultry treated with virginiamycin”.
Researchers from the department of microbiology at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) believe strongly that antibiotic growth promotion contributes to increasing bacterial resistance. A study conducted by UWC concludes that “the exposure of food-producing animals to medicated feed in South Africa has led to an increase in the frequency of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms”.
The misuse of antibiotics in farming in South Africa has, until recently, been a non-issue. Today, however, a more responsible approach is being adopted.
The Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs is responsible for the national monitoring of antibiotic residue levels for exported meat and stringent controls are in place in this regard. Yet, there is no formal nationally coordinated programme to check residue levels in meat destined for the local market. Once meat leaves the abattoir, independent provincial authorities are responsible for food safety law enforcement in their areas of jurisdiction and can request that residue tests be done on meat in supermarkets. It is difficult to regulate this system of independent monitoring on a national scale and to ensure it is adhered to.
This unsatisfactory state of affairs has galvanised the agriculture department into forming the food safety and quality assurance directorate. This body will be created in terms of the Meat Safety Act of 2000. The agriculture department says this programme will “protect the local consumer through its national monitoring of the serological and antibiotic residue levels in meat, including poultry”.
Major food retailers are also responding to the public’s anxiety over antibiotic misuse in poultry farming. Woolworths public relations manager Diane Peterson says: “Safe food is part of our policy.” Woolworths is working towards the supply of antibiotic-free chicken.
Pick ‘n Pay’s technical manager, Donna Crockart, says the company is “aware of growing consumer concern over the subtherapeutical use of anti-biotics in poultry farming … We support attempts by authorities to reduce antimicrobial residues through the restriction of their use for non-essential purposes.” She says Pick ‘n Pay encourages suppliers to adopt alternatives to antibiotics to fatten the flock.
Dr Louis Theron, chairperson of the food safety committee of the South African Poultry Association and owner of Sangiro Chickens, stresses the important role antibiotics play clinically but cautions against the sub-therapeutic misuse of these drugs. He is currently running trials to test alternatives to antibiotics. Theron stresses, however, the importance of the therapeutic administration of antibiotics in the event of a disease outbreak.
There is a range of companies offering natural alternatives to anti-biotic growth enhancers. These are in the form of organic fatty acids that are effective against a wide range of bacteria. Director of one such company, Optivite, Philip Potgieter, says: “Natural alternatives are capable of producing the same or better results, at no extra cost, as antibiotic growth promoters in commercial poultry farming.”
Scientific research suggests that the administration of the same antibiotics in both animal farming and for treating humans has a negative impact on human health. It is for this reason that critics of the use of antibiotic growth enhancers say the practice should be discontinued. Food is an emotional issue, one which is central to life itself, so many consumers will breathe (and eat) easier knowing South African is starting to take food safety seriously.
Natasha Bolognesi is a freelance writer specialising in health issues