Perceptions of antibiotic use in livestock farming in Germany, Italy and the United States

Abstract

The use of antibiotics in livestock farming has been a common practice for many years. As one of the leading causes of antibiotic resistance, posing serious threats to animal health, human health and food security, a change in this application practice is needed. However, antibiotics play a crucial role in disease management and control in animal farming, which highlights their relevance to both animal welfare and food safety. The general public in many countries is becoming aware of the problem of antibiotic resistance in pathogens and the contributing role of livestock to its proliferation. Nevertheless, little is known about how the public in different countries reacts to this knowledge and how they evaluate different strategies to combat this threat. The current study analyzes public perception of antibiotic use in livestock farming in three different countries, while considering differentiating advantages and disadvantages of antibiotic treatment of farm animals. A total of 2,670 subjects responded to an online questionnaire in Germany (n=894), Italy (n=887) and the United States (n=889). Participants were asked to indicate their level of agreement with several statements on bipolar 7-point Likert-scales. Three factors were extracted using principal component analysis (total variance explained: 59.59%, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy = 0.915, Bartletts’ test of sphericity<0.001). According to the average attitudes bundled in factor one (“Antibiotic use as a threat to human health”), participants in all three samples perceived significant human health risks with antibiotic use in animal farming, with the German participants as the most skeptical, followed by Italian and then US participants. The “Advantages of antibiotic use in livestock farming” (factor two) were perceived only by the US sample, whereas participants from the other two countries were on average more skeptical about the existence of positive impacts such as improved food safety and animal welfare. A “Justified use of antibiotics” (factor three) was on average doubted by participants in all three countries, with the German participants again being most critical. Regarding the treatment of different animal species (for dairy cattle, fattening pigs and broilers), participants in all three countries believed that antibiotics are used even if the animals are not really sick and that the whole herd, instead of individual animals, are treated even if just a few animals display symptoms of a disease. Moreover, the respondents tied antibiotic use with attempts to increase the growth rate of animals rather than to solely treat certain diseases. These results illustrate the significant criticism to the livestock sector by the surveyed participants.