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Antimicrobial use and resistance in food animal production: food safety and associated concerns in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Timothy Obiebe Jason OdeyWilliams Omotola TanimowoKayode Olayinka AfolabiIqbal Kabir JahidRine Christopher Reuben
Published in: International microbiology : the official journal of the Spanish Society for Microbiology (2023)
The use of antimicrobials in food animal (FA) production is a common practice all over the world, with even greater usage and dependence in the developing world, including Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, this practice which serves obvious economic benefits to producers has raised public health concerns over the last decades, thus driving the selection and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance and adversely impacting food safety and environmental health. This review presents the current and comprehensive antimicrobial usage practices in food animal production across SSA. We further highlighted the overall regional drivers as well as the public health, environmental, and economic impact of antimicrobial use in the production of food animals. Antimicrobial use is likely to increase with even exacerbated outcomes unless cost-effective, safe, and sustainable alternatives to antibiotics, especially probiotics, prebiotics, bacteriocins, antimicrobial peptides, bacteriophages, vaccines, etc. are urgently advocated for and used in food animal production in SSA. These, in addition to the implementation of strong legislation on antimicrobial use, and improved hygiene will help mitigate the public health concerns associated with antimicrobial use in food animals and improve the well-being and safety of food animals and their products.
Keyphrases
  • public health
  • human health
  • staphylococcus aureus
  • healthcare
  • primary care
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • risk assessment
  • mental health
  • skeletal muscle
  • climate change
  • weight loss
  • insulin resistance