A sick cow could die overnight if it is not treated with antibiotics.

But how lax are breeders with the medicine, considering that its misuse could pass on resistant bacteria to the person who ends up drinking its milk?

Farmers say they cannot abuse antibiotics even if they wanted to, and tests reveal high compliance.  

There are concerns, however. We spoke to stakeholders, from farmers to doctors, to better understand the situation.

The farmer 

Consuming animal products containing antibiotic residues is just as bad as
taking a dose of antibiotics, medics warn, but dairy farmer Frankie Fenech says breeders are subject to strict monitoring.

Misuse of antibiotics could mean the end of an animal breeder’s livelihood as it could mean losing EU funds and other grants that are often a lifeline for the farmer, according to Frankie Fenech.

The former president of the Koperattiva Produtturi tal-Ħalib explained that dairy farmers were required to keep prescribed painkillers and antibiotics on their farm as part of their welfare regime.

In the worst case scenario, if a cow took a turn for the worse during the night in the weekend and it was not treated immediately because of a lack of medicine or a vet, a farmer could lose the animal overnight to an infection.

Leafing through a file containing 15-years’ worth of prescriptions, he explained that every farmer was obliged to document the prescribed treatment and its administration in a herd book which was monitored by a vet.

For dairy farmers there is no way around compliance – the milk they produce is tested daily for quality and any residue, and a sample kept for some days to ensure traceability in case something happens.

Apart from random inspections by the veterinary authorities, the dairy cooperative and the local milk producer also carry out farm visits.

“In order to qualify for EU funds, officials carry out cross-check compliance visits, and believe me, nowadays we cannot do without such funding.

“At the same time, in Malta we are competing with EU products and the only way to survive is to keep our standards higher than everyone else’s.” Because of the island’s size, breeders could not run away from inspection, while products ended up on consumers’ table overnight, he said.

“We are very careful because if one breeder commits one mistake, the whole sector will all come falling down,” Mr Fenech said, noting that the average herd size in Malta was larger than that of France and Germany.

The academic

Warnings of antibiotic overuse might make headlines, but animal husbandry lecturer Paul Spiteri reckons the biggest problem is the exact opposite.

Mcast lecturer Paul Spiteri, who has also worked in poultry breeding, confirmed that the penalties were far too big for any farmer to abuse medicinal treatment.

The only way to survive is to keep our standards higher than everyone else’s

Apart from medicine being costly, its misuse could see a breeder lose the whole stock.

He insisted that the proper use of antibiotics was not wrong, but rather its misuse, and more specifically underuse was detrimental as it led to resistance.

Dangers of antibiotic underuse

“Underuse is even more dangerous than overuse. If there are still people who do this to save money it is because they are unaware that resistance – and therefore disease – could spread across the whole farm.”

“If this happens at least once on a poultry farm where chicken is grown for its meat, the breeder could lose a fifth of their annual income, as they usually have five crops a year.”

Mr Spiteri has witnessed a decrease in antibiotic use. While in the past poultry used to be administered treatment “just in case”, there has now been an increase in prevention methods.

Read: Animal antibiotics being bought over the counter

Animal breeders were more focused on ensuring the right environment for the animals.

When it comes to egg-laying poultry, antibiotics could not be administered because residues in eggs could lead to the destruction of a whole batch of thousands of eggs.

Breeders have therefore resorted to vaccinating the chickens when they are still young, so that during their egg-laying period they do not need any antibiotics.

“If breeders overuse antibiotics they will one way or another get caught, and if they underuse antibiotics, they would create resistance. Either way, it is very expensive for the farmer.”

The regulator

New legislation will give Maltese authorities stronger teeth when it comes to veterinary medicine compliance, but in the meantime Roberto Andrea Balbo has already noticed increased biosecurity compliance by farmers.

Current legislation allows some control over medicinal use within the veterinary sector that acts as a deterrent for farmers, such as the destruction of carcasses containing antibiotic residue and the culling of whole flocks.

However, the lack of a comprehensive law means that while the authorities could take someone to court, the case could fall because of legislative gaps, Dr Balbo, Veterinary Regulation Director, explained.

Tough new laws

So when the EU started drafting veterinary medicine legislation which has to be fully implemented by 2022, Malta started doing its own homework.

The new local legislation, which should be in place later on this year, has been tailor-made to not only reflect the EU regulations, but to also cover the existing gaps.

For Dr Balbo, the possible misuse of medicine without a prescription is a primary concern.

 “Keeping some medicine at hand just in case there are no vets available is not the ideal approach. While there are medicines that are considered relatively safe and can be bought over the counter, there are others that could create more problems if they are consumed than if they are not.”

The possible misuse of medicine without a prescription is a primary concern

Just like an ill person, a sick animal – whether at home or on a farm – requires treatment, however prevention is always better than cure.

This included changing one’s footwear or clothing to avoid spreading germs when visiting a farm, ensuring optimal storage of feed, proper ventilation within animal holds, and preventing the disease getting out of the farm.

Vaccination is also imperative, as is proper hygiene at home around pets.

Tests reveal high compliance

Farmers, he noted, had to ensure that they were compliant with biosecurity measures if they wanted to access EU and other grants.

“We visit all the farms in Malta more than once a year, including small units with less than 10 sheep for example as they still need to be tested,” he said, adding that some inspections were unannounced.

There the officials test for residues of, among others, contaminants, undeclared additives, medicine, antibiotics and hormones – things that can end up in the animal and therefore in the final product. Some tests are carried out in Malta and other samples are sent abroad to accredited laboratories.

Around 1,050 tests were carried out locally and abroad for antimicrobial residues in 2016, another 1,600 in 2017 and a further 1,600 in 2018.

A total of five failed in 2016, another nine in 2017 and a further eight in 2018.

This, according to Dr Balbo, showed an extremely high degree of compliance. The authorities have meanwhile taken an active role in raising awareness about the risks involved in misuse of medicine, Dr Balbo said.

Apart from missing out on grants and compensation funds, farmers could also lose part or all of their animal stock. If a carcass tested positive for antibiotics at the slaughterhouse, the farmer would remain under continuous monitoring, while a dairy producer’s whole consignment of milk could be discarded or a poultry flock culled if there were any residues.

The doctor

Can remnants in animals be passed on to people? Prof. Michael Borg, Head of the Department of Infection Control, answers the worrying questions.

Can remnants of antibiotics in animals be passed on to people when they consume meat or products such as dairy?

Definitely. If you consume animal products that contain antibiotic residues, this is just as bad as taking a dose of an antibiotic. If this happens regularly due to poor practices in animal husbandry, then the impact on human health is very real.

Can resistance to antibiotics be passed on to people in any way?

Again yes. The worry is that resistant bacteria from food directly contaminate humans. To give an example... if a chicken develops resistant bacteria in its intestine as a result of inappropriate antibiotic use by the farmer, when it is slaughtered the bacteria ends up contaminating the carcass.

When the chicken is processed at home, those bacteria then end up contaminating the chopping board, work surfaces and hands of whoever is preparing it. These bacteria can easily be ingested by touching the mouth or face or by cross-contaminating ready-to-eat foods – especially if the basics of food hygiene are not rigidly applied. Therefore these resistant bacteria enter the human gut and there can proliferate and render the person a carrier of these resistant microbes.

What precautions should people take when preparing meat/dairy products at home, so as to avoid the transmission of antibiotics, or resistance?

Properly cooking meat items – especially poultry and particularly on BBQs. Reach at least 75˚C – few people use a probe thermometer to check cooking temperatures but this should be the rule. Above all, strict food hygiene. Using separate chopping boards for raw meats from those of ready-to-eat food such as salads and cheese. Washing chopping boards used for raw meat separately and then rinsing with piping hot water to kill any microbes. Ensuring work surfaces used for raw meats are disinfected with an appropriate sanitiser after preparing raw meats and most important of all, washing hands thoroughly every time after handling raw meats.

Eating local

This is the third in a series of articles in The Sunday Times of Malta looking at different aspects of the local food industry in a bid to raise more awareness of this crucial, yet often neglected, sector.

Other articles in the series: 

1. Farmers are giving up because they feel cheated, not because it's hard work

2. 'This generation think carrots grow in supermarkets': getting them young