World meat industry news

In an interview with Rossiya 24, Sergey Dankvert, the head of Rosselkhoznadzor, said it is necessary to increase the responsibility for antibiotic use by agribusinesses.

“We believe it is important to increase the responsibility for antibiotic use by agribusinesses. Many countries have already made this transition. We also need to make sure that antibiotics are registered in an electronic system and linked to veterinary specialists who prescribed them, including names of persons who have received prescriptions and a list of animals treated with these antibiotics,” said Sergey Dankvert.

The head of Rosselkhoznadzor stressed that, in particular, it is important to ban the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry which are very important for human medicine. The main goal is to reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance as bacteria can become drug resistant.

The Rosselkhoznadzor electronic systems can be used for tracking the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry, added Sergey Dankvert.

“The only thing we are eagerly awaiting now is when the animal identification becomes fully mandatory in Russia. This will allow us to have a complete traceability system,” said the head of the regulator.

As a reminder, the draft bill ordering to limit livestock antibiotics was adopted by the Russian State Duma during its third, final reading at a plenary session on December 17, 2021.

Sergey Dankvert also noted that the Rosselkhoznadzor electronic systems contribute to enhancing food safety in Russia.

“In terms of food safety, today, the number of detections in meat and dairy sectors has halved. As to meat sector, the situation is more challenging, as producers continue to use antibiotics in animal feed. Our laboratories detect them and we publish the findings. However, in general, compared to 6% detection rate in past, currently, detections stand at 3%, and this makes us happy,” said the head of Rosselkhoznadzor.