Antimicrobial Resistance in Pig Production: Welfare Implications

Antimicrobial resistance threatens both pig welfare (through untreatable infections) and public health, making stewardship an animal welfare as well as human health issue.

Key Facts

• Pig production globally accounts for a large proportion of veterinary antibiotic consumption
• Prophylactic and metaphylactic antibiotic use in pigs drives resistance development
• AMR threatens pig welfare directly when infections become untreatable with available antibiotics
• EU regulations banned antibiotic growth promoters in 2006 and prophylactic group treatment in 2022
• Higher welfare farming systems with lower stocking density and enrichment reduce disease and antibiotic need

Welfare Considerations

Antimicrobial resistance in pig production creates a vicious cycle for animal welfare: overcrowded, stressful production systems increase disease prevalence, leading to high antibiotic use, which drives resistance, ultimately leaving pigs with untreatable infections that cause greater suffering. The welfare imperative for antibiotic stewardship is thus directly linked to improving the farming conditions that necessitate antibiotic use in the first place. Higher welfare production systems — with adequate space, enrichment, social stability, and good biosecurity — have lower disease incidence and require fewer antibiotics, demonstrating that animal welfare and antimicrobial stewardship are mutually reinforcing rather than competing priorities.

What You Can Do

• Choose pork from farms with veterinary health plans demonstrating low antibiotic use
• Support antibiotic stewardship programs in pig production that replace prophylactic use with improved welfare
• Advocate for mandatory antibiotic use reporting and benchmarking in commercial pig production
• Support research into alternatives to antibiotics including vaccines, probiotics, and improved management
• Educate consumers about the connection between higher welfare farming and responsible antibiotic use