Antimicrobial use and resistance in plant agriculture: A One Health perspective
Jorge Pinto Ferreira and Jeffrey LeJeune, FAO Food Safety Officers, are co-authors of a recently published review paper that focuses on the use of antimicrobials in plant agriculture and its associated resistance, from a One Health perspective. The article was published by Agriculture, an international, scientific journal published online by MDPI on a monthly basis.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is associated, at a global level, to close to 5 million human deaths annually. Vegetables contaminated with antimicrobial resistant organisms have caused a number of foodborne disease outbreaks. Understanding the pathways that vegetables become contaminated with antimicrobial resistant organisms can help develop strategies to prevent this from happening and make food safer.
It is increasingly recognized that a holistic approach, that addresses the health of humans, animals, plants and the environment as being interconnected, is the best way to control AMR. As part of this approach, fruit and vegetable producers have the responsibility to use antimicrobial agents only when necessary, under the supervision of plant health professionals when required, and not as a replacement for good management or other disease prevention methods.
In this article, which is available open access, the authors provide a short introduction to AMR, followed by sections referring to the different mechanisms of resistance, use of pesticides, resistance to pesticides associated with antimicrobials (with particular focus on antibiotics, metals and fungicides), and finally highlighting current data needs and recommendations, for example, to support data collection and judicious pesticide use.
Access the paper
See the:
Codex Alimentarius foodborne antimicrobial resistance compendium of standards
Photo by Jeffrey LeJeune