UK poultry sector reduces antibiotic use to record low amid industry collaboration efforts

The British Poultry Council reports an 86.4% reduction in antibiotic use over a decade, marking a significant shift towards responsible medicines reliance in UK poultry meat production.

The British Poultry Council has marked a decade of antibiotic stewardship reporting with its lowest recorded level of use, underlining how far the UK poultry meat sector has moved from routine medicines dependence.

According to the council’s 2026 report, total antibiotic use fell to 11.15 tonnes in 2025 from 13.70 tonnes a year earlier, an 86.4% drop from the 2012 baseline of 81.67 tonnes. Use of critically important antibiotics has fallen by 96.8% over the same period, while polymyxins have not been used in UK poultry meat production for nine consecutive years.

The sector also reported zero prophylactic use for a tenth straight year, after ending preventative treatment by voluntary agreement in 2016. All species remained within or below RUMA’s targets, with chickens at 9.12 mg/pcu and turkeys at 36.72 mg/pcu. Ducks, which have no formal target, were tracked at 0.82 mg/pcu.

The council said the shift to mg/kg reporting will now align UK figures with EU methodology, allowing international comparison for the first time. Industry leaders said the figures reflect collaboration between farmers, vets and processors, and argued the priority now is biosecurity, vaccine access and maintaining animal welfare rather than pursuing zero use at any cost.

Source: Noah Wire Services