Brexit negotiators urged to examine tougher rules on farming antibiotics

Tougher regulations on the use of antibiotics on farm animals are needed as a matter of urgency as part of Brexit negotiations, campaigners and politicians have urged, after fresh revelations of superbugs found in UK supermarket meat products.

E coli germs resistant to all of the currently used antibiotics have been found in UK supermarket meat, with a quarter of chickens found to contain the deadly superbugs, in research from Cambridge University.

The discovery has been strongly linked to the overuse of antibiotic medicines among farm animals, including chickens and pigs.

Overuse of antibiotics among farm animals fosters the development of resistant germs, which can then infect people and cause serious illness. The Guardian has previously revealed strong evidence of another “superbug” resistant to antibiotics – MRSA – found in nearly one in 10 samples of UK supermarket pork.

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H/t reader kevin a.