Factory Farm Antibiotic Use and Animal Welfare

The routine use of antibiotics in animal agriculture to prevent disease in crowded conditions reflects and perpetuates the welfare problems inherent in intensive production systems.

Key Facts

Approximately 73 percent of all antibiotics sold globally are used in food-producing animals
Routine preventive antibiotic use masks the welfare signals that would otherwise require management improvement
Antibiotic-resistant infections kill an estimated 700,000 people annually globally
The EU banned routine antibiotic use as a production tool in 2022 requiring higher welfare as an alternative

Welfare Considerations

Routine antibiotic use in animal agriculture functions as a welfare subsidy that enables crowded conditions incompatible with animal health without antibiotics. Animals in intensive systems develop disease at rates that would be recognized as welfare failures if antibiotics were not available to manage the consequences. Eliminating routine antibiotic use therefore requires improving welfare standards to reduce disease risk — creating a regulatory lever for welfare improvement.

What You Can Do

Choose meat and dairy from farms certified as not using routine preventive antibiotics
Support the EU approach of linking antibiotic use reduction to welfare improvement
Advocate for antibiotic stewardship legislation that addresses underlying welfare drivers
Reduce animal product consumption to decrease demand for antibiotic-dependent intensive systems