Giving Antibiotics in Feed Risky but Rife at Broiler Farms
The breeders use antibiotics not for therapeutic or treatment purposes as intended, but in a bid to improve meat production by keeping their chickens healthy.
/https%3A%2F%2Fkompas.id%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F07%2FDSC06031_1625589077.jpg){kind=logo}
Workers harvest broiler chickens in one of the farm cages in Bogor Regency, West Java on Thursday (20/5/2021).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Broiler breeders liberally use antibiotics to prevent disease among their chicken flock. In actual fact, however, antibiotics should be used only to treat disease. Improper use has spurred the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
An investigation by Kompas, in collaboration with the World Animal Protection (WAP), the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), and the Center for Indonesian Veterinary Analytical Studies (CIVAS), discovered the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in broiler chicken meat.
Also read:
> Chicken Productivity Not the Only Problem
Monitoring a number of broiler farms in West Java from May to early June found that so-called plasma farmers habitually used large and inappropriate amounts of antibiotics that they received from large companies under a nucleus estate and smallholder (NES) scheme.
Antibiotics are regularly given in consistently large doses in a single harvesting cycle.
The breeders use antibiotics not for therapeutic or treatment purposes as intended, but in a bid to improve meat production by keeping their chickens healthy. Antibiotics are regularly given in consistently large doses in a single harvesting cycle.
The schedule for giving antibiotics varies. Some breeders administer antibiotics as a precaution when their chickens are 2-4 days old, while others opt to administer them when the chickens are 8-10 days old.
SU, the head of a breeding facility at a partner of poultry company PT Japfa Comfeed in Subang, West Java, said that the facility administered antibiotics when the chickens were 2-5 days old. The drug it gives belongs to the quinolone family of antibiotics, one of which is ofloxacin. The antibiotic is mixed with water at a 1:2 ratio.
"Most [breeders] use [antibiotics] as a precaution," he said in May.
Kompas observed UD, a partner breeder of PT Charoen Pokphand Indonesia Tbk (CPI) based in Bandung, as he administered antibiotics in chicken feed on Friday morning (28/5/2021). It was the second day since the day-old chicks (DOC) had been moved to their own cage.
The remaining antibiotic packaging at a broiler farm in Dramaga, Bogor, West Java, on Thursday (27/5/2021).
UD demonstrated two ways of administering antibiotics. First, he poured Baytril (enrofloxacin) into a bucket containing 30 liters of water. The mixture was then divided among dozens of portable chicken waterers. Next, UD mixed Baytril and water in a dipper, and then poured it into 18 hanging waterers.
UD also gives antibiotics when the chickens are 12-15 days old. The drugs include Cosumix (sulfachloropyridazine and trimethoprim) and Doxysol (doxycycline hyclate and colistin sulfate).
A number of broiler breeders in Gunung Sindur and Dramaga in Bogor, West Java, give the antibiotic brand Doxerin+ (doxycycline and erythromycin) and Enromas (enrofloxacin) when the chickens are less than a week old.
An online search revealed that Colamox contains amoxicillin and colistin.
SN, the head of a broiler breeding facility in Gunung Sindur, said he gave Colamox when the chickens were 1-4 days old. An online search revealed that Colamox contains amoxicillin and colistin.
Also read:
> Breeders Suffer amid Sharp Fall in Egg Prices
The discovery of the liberal use of various antibiotics by chicken farmers requires further research to ascertain the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria at broiler farms. However, the results of the CIVAS research found antibiotic-resistant bacteria in samples of broiler chicken cecum (intestines) and carcasses (meat) at poultry slaughterhouses (RPH-U), as well as in samples of frozen carcasses sold by animal food product retailers.
Drug-resistant bacteria
The results of a CIVAS research in November 2020-May 2021 confirmed antibiotic resistance in food containing broiler meat. CIVAS tested a total of 120 samples consisting of 30 chicken cecum samples and 30 carcass samples obtained from slaughterhouses and 60 frozen carcasses from the retail outlets of a large livestock company.
The samples were tested in the laboratory at the Agriculture Ministry’s Veterinary Research Center. The results of the lab tests showed that isolates of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria in the cecum samples were resistant to five types of antibiotics, namely meropenem, sulfamethoxazole, colistin, ciprofloxacin, and chloramphenicol. Meanwhile, isolates of E. coli in the carcass samples from both slaughterhouses and retail outlets were found to be resistant to colistin, sulfamethoxazole, ciprofloxacin, and chloramphenicol.
The findings have raised concern, considering that chicken meat is the main source of protein for people. "The effect is, if we consume products that contain antibiotic-resistant bacteria and we get sick, there are no antibiotics that can be used [as treatment]," CIVAS executive board member Tri Satya Putri Naipospos said on Tuesday (29/6/2021).
She said antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which includes antibiotic resistance in chickens, was caused by the excessive use of antibiotics at poultry farms. “I can say that this is a case of overuse here, because we have been using antibiotic growth-promoters (AGPs) for decades," said Tri.
Thousands of broiler chickens at a broiler collector in Pegasinan, Gunung Sindur, Bogor, West Java, on Tuesday (22/9/2020).
The government has banned the use of AGP in animal feed since January 2018 as part of its AMR prevention campaign. However, there are still farmers who insisted on using AGPs in animal feed.
HW, a farmer in Bogor, admitted to using what he called an “AGP starter” to boost chicken growth so they reached maturity faster.
Colistin
According Indonesian Veterinary Association chairman Muhammad Munawaroh, giving antibiotics to healthy livestock could produce bacteria that were resistant to antibiotics. "That is not allowed now, because antibiotics should be given only when the animal is sick," he said.
According to him, colistin was the last resort for patients infected with bacteria that were pandrug-resistant (resistance to all available antimicrobials) or generally insusceptible to various antibiotics.
Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology director Amin Soebandrio expressed his concern about E. coli resistance to the antibiotic colistin. According to him, colistin was the last resort for patients infected with bacteria that were pandrug-resistant (resistance to all available antimicrobials) or generally insusceptible to various antibiotics.
Antimicrobial Resistance Control Committee chairman Hari Paraton said colistin was used only in the event that a patient was in a life-or-death situation. “They have found [bacteria] that is resistant to colistin. So if the bacteria crosses [species] into humans, what else could we [give]?” he said.
Animal health director Nuryani Zainuddin at the Agriculture Ministry said the directorate regularly monitored developments in the emerging patterns of drug-resistant bacteria. According to her, E. coli
resistance to colistin seemed to be on a downward trend since the regulation banning colistin was enforced in the husbandry sector.
Inevitable
Regarding the use of antibiotics in broiler farming by its partners, the senior vice president of poultry production and animal health at CPI, Jusmeinidar Jusran, said the practice was unavoidable, considering that chicks risked exposure to bacteria as soon as they were moved to a cage, including bacteria carried by the rice husks used to line the cage floor. The high humidity in Indonesia was also said to another problem that made it easier for bacteria to grow and threaten the chicks’ health.
/https%3A%2F%2Fkompas.id%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F07%2FDSC06036_1626339522.jpg){kind=logo}
Several broiler chickens are being weighed by the crew of the farm in Bogor Regency, West Java during the harvest process on Thursday (20/5/2021).
Meanwhile, PT Japfa said in a statement that antibiotic administration was allowed at breeding farms in the first three days due to the discovery of bacteria in the farms’ DOCs. It said antibiotics were given to prevent infecting other chicks in accordance with production management of breeding cages at its partner farms. (JOG/FRD/DIV/BIL)
(This article was translated by Musthofid)
