Smithfield’s commitment to the highest standards of food safety and animal care includes the appropriate administration of antibiotics to treat and control diseases and to ensure good health in our pigs.1 We strive to limit antibiotics use through enhanced management practices and vaccines intended to improve animal health.
Since 2002, we have had a formal and publicly available antibiotics use policy that outlines our commitments and usage requirements. Adherence to the policy is obligatory for anyone who works with the animals owned or managed by or under contract to our IOCs. We review our policy periodically to confirm it is up-to-date with the best science of the day.
Our policy calls for the responsible use of antibiotics for three specific purposes: to prevent disease, control disease, and treat disease, with proper diagnostic confirmation. Sound science tells us that the healthier the animal, the safer the food. Antibiotics are given strategically when pigs are sick or injured, or when they may be exposed to illnesses. Contrary to popular perception, antibiotics are not continuously fed to our animals. We do not use antibiotics for growth promotion purposes, nor do we use hormones in pigs to promote growth. In fact, there are no hormones approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for growth promotion in pigs.
Antibiotics Use in Hog Production
Company and contract farmers administer antibiotics only when it is necessary for the health of the animals. Whether treating one individual animal or administering to an entire herd, all antibiotics choices and applications are based on guidance from licensed veterinarians.
We believe that responsible use of antibiotics protects our animals and enhances their quality of life, and we have been a leader in our industry on this issue. For example, we continue to maintain our ongoing partnership with the foodservice giant Compass Group North America and the Environmental Defense Fund, through which we developed a purchasing policy for responsible antibiotics use and reporting. As a result of the first-of-its-kind agreement, which built upon our existing antibiotics policy, we now report and track our use of feed-grade antibiotics.
FEED-GRADE ANTIBIOTIC USE [INSERT CHART OR TABLE HERE, % change FY06-11]
All values reported by fiscal year. Feed-grade antibiotics purchased vary from year to year based on a number of factors, including weather conditions, emergence of illnesses, and other issues. The data included here have shifted slightly from prior reports; we are now reporting on a fiscal year rather than on a 12-month period through October.
Hog-raising operations at Murphy-Brown employ a team of about 15 licensed staff veterinarians who scrutinize, evaluate, and adjust the antibiotics used on our farms. The veterinarians consult with our staff nutritionists and production specialists to make informed, science-based decisions about which type of antibiotics to use, when and how the antibiotics should be administered, and for how long. National organizations, such as the National Pork Board and its PQA Plus® program, provide additional guidance on best industry practices and training for those who are certified.
Our animal caregivers evaluate every pig, every day, to determine which animals may be in need of medical attention.
Before we prescribe antibiotics, we first look for other ways to assist a sick pig, such as placement in a hospital pen with supplemental heat and/or special feed. Often, these treatments help the pig. In some cases, however, an injectable antibiotic2 may be needed to promote recovery because hogs sometimes won’t eat or drink as much if they don’t feel well.
Livestock producers use two types of antibiotics: therapeutic and prophylactic (preventive). Therapeutic antibiotics are prescribed by veterinarians and administered when an animal shows clinical signs of an illness or a disease. Prophylactic antibiotics, also prescribed by veterinarians, are administered to prevent disease. For example, we provide preventive antibiotics when the pigs are moved from our nursery facilities to finishing barns, where they will come into contact with much larger, more diverse groups of hogs from several different farms.
A Highly Regulated Industry
Every antibiotic we use is regulated by the FDA. Murphy-Brown and its subsidiaries comply strictly with all antibiotic withdrawal timelines—the amount of time needed to allow the antibiotics to clear an animal’s system before slaughter—as established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank.
Some countries, such as Japan, Russia, and several nations in the European Union, require our farms and suppliers to make specific adjustments to those requirements. We always adhere to the guidelines of those countries with which we do business.
Domestically, the USDA monitors meat and poultry to ensure that there are no antibiotic residues that exceed the safety levels established by federal agencies. The National Residue Program (NRP) tests animal tissues to monitor antibiotic residue.
Research from the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System—a collaboration among the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FDA, and the USDA—shows that resistance in animal products and food-borne diseases has been steady or declining in recent years.
Antibiotics-Free Program
A small percentage of Murphy-Brown’s hogs are raised without antibiotics on designated farms in response to a niche market segment. However, if one of the pigs in this program becomes ill, we will treat that animal with antibiotics and remove it from the antibiotics-free program. This program is targeted at a select group of customers who are willing to pay up to 30 percent more to cover the higher production costs for hogs raised in this manner.
1 When we refer to “our pigs,” we mean all animals produced by Smithfield’s livestock production subsidiary Murphy-Brown and its subsidiaries, inclusive of contract farms.
2 We do not report on our use of injectable antibiotics because they can fluctuate greatly from one year to the next.
