VET DATA: Penicillin is the highest selling antimicrobial for food-producing animals
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For the first time, all 27 countries of the European Union (EU27), together with Iceland and Norway, have collected and reported data on the sale and use of antimicrobials in animals, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said.
The findings were presented in the first European Sales and Use of Antimicrobials for Veterinary Medicine (ESUAvet) annual surveillance report. The data covers 2023, marking the beginning of a regular exercise and yearly reports.
Sale of antibiotics for food-producing animals accounted for 98 per cent of total EU sales of veterinary medicines containing substances with antibiotic activity. The highest selling antimicrobial class for food-producing animals was penicillin, followed by tetracycline and sulphonamide.
Data was collected for four main food-producing animal species: cattle, pig, chicken and turkey. Veterinarians were the sole data providers in 16 reporting countries. The remaining 13 reporting countries used other data providers in addition to veterinarians, including pharmacies, feed mills, farmers or breeders, and retailers.
The ESUAvet report builds on the European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption (ESVAC) project, a voluntary initiative between national authorities and EMA to collect reliable 12-year sales data across Europe. A 50 per cent drop in sale of veterinary antibiotics was observed during this time — due to the collective efforts of countries that developed national strategies to encourage responsible use.
The ESVAC initiative was so successful that it has formalised and expanded, under EU legislation, mandatory data collection on the sale and use of antimicrobials in animals. The data in the annual ESUAvet reports, collected via the Antimicrobial Sales and Use (ASU) platform, will help identify more accurately, and with more granularity, the trends in antimicrobial consumption in animals, enabling decision-makers to address the increasing complexity of antimicrobial resistance and take measures to protect animal and human health in Europe.
(Source: EMA)
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Published on April 6, 2025
