Alberta Chicken Producers responds to online piece
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
The organization representing Alberta’s chicken industry is setting the record straight when it comes to antibiotic use in Canada.
Karen Kirkwood, executive director of Alberta Chicken Producers, wrote a letter to the editor of Ponoka News yesterday in response to an article titled ‘Contagion: Antibiotics in agriculture add to growing suberbug threat.’
“On behalf of Alberta’s 250 chicken farmers, it is deeply disturbing to read the erroneous and misleading statements in the “Contagion” article,” she said. “First and foremost, consumers can be assured that poultry and eggs are free of antibiotic residues.”
The article appeared on the Ponoka News website on June 30, but online searches show several other websites posted the same piece. The article appears to be the third piece in a six-part series from the Canadian Press about “the growing epidemic of drug resistance.”
The article mainly focuses on poultry production practices in India but does mention Canadian farming in a few instances.
Indian and Canadian farmers “give their animals antibiotics to fatten them up, prevent disease or treat sickness,” the article said. “Many farmers say antibiotics are critical to ensure the health and safety of their livelihood, but the practice also carries a dangerous cost for humans.”
The article also mentions Canada has been “slower to curb antibiotic use in agriculture,” and that farmers will need a veterinary prescription for some antibiotics as of Dec. 1.
Kirkwood’s letter provides an overview of CFIA requirements for poultry producers with respect to antibiotics, testing and reporting measures, and the steps the industry is taking to reduce antibiotic use.
“In 2014, Chicken Farmers of Canada implemented a policy that eliminated the preventive use of Category I antibiotics – those most important to human medicine,” Kirkwood wrote. “All antibiotics used are approved by Health Canada."
Farms.com has reached out to Kirkwood for comment.
Karen Kirkwood photo