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Tackling antibiotic resistance through safer food systems 14 Jan 2026

The latest global antibiotic resistance report by the World Health Organisation stated that antimicrobial resistance is one of the top global health threats undermining the effectiveness of treatment options and putting millions of people at risk of untreatable infections at national, regional, and global levels. This means that many infections caused by pathogenic microbes are no longer treatable by many of the medicines designed to cure them. 

Indiscriminate use of antibiotics, such as in situations where patients do not finish the entire antibiotic course as prescribed for use and overuse and misuse of antibiotics in both clinical and agricultural situations, have accelerated the development of antimicrobial-resistant strains. One hidden promoter of this life-threatening menace is the distribution and consumption of contaminated foods and drinks, which silently spreads antibiotic resistance globally. 

Antibiotics are medicines that fight bacterial infections in people and animals. They either kill microbes by destroying some of the important parts needed for their survival, such as the DNA or cell wall, or stop them from growing by hindering their ability to make certain proteins needed for them to multiply, which in turn restores good health to infected or sick people. However, this highly crucial role of antibiotics in taking care of infections such as respiratory, gastrointestinal, urinary tract infections and sexually transmitted infections (gonorrhoea), among others, is currently threatened by the development of multi-drug resistance. 

Antibiotic-resistant strains in food items refer to bacteria found in foods and drinks that can survive exposure to one or more antibiotics commonly used to treat infections. This is a major food safety and public health concern, especially in animal-derived foods and fresh produce. 

Antibiotic resistance in food is indeed a complex issue, enabled by how farmers and producers raise animals and grow crops, and how food processors process the food we eat. For decades, livestock, poultry, and aquaculture producers have added doses of antibiotics to feed to help livestock gain weight faster. Antibiotics are often used prophylactically to prevent potential infection outbreaks, without adequate attention to maintaining hygienic conditions around these animals. 

Pre-treating livestock, poultry, or fish with antibiotics, or using them as weight-gain agents, is a misuse of antibiotics that contributes greatly to the development of resistant strains in affected animals, which could be transferred to humans when contaminated products such as meat (beef, pork, chicken and turkey), eggs, raw milk, fish, and seafood are consumed. Multidrug-resistant Salmonella has also been reported in chicken meat and eggs in different parts of the world, including Nigeria, showing resistance to chloramphenicol, ampicillin, and sulfonamides. Undercooked meat and unpasteurised milk have been reported to contain resistant Campylobacter in different parts of West and East Africa. 

Contaminated vegetables and fruits can also transfer antibiotic resistance to humans when consumed. This can happen from the use of manure-based fertilisers obtained from farm animals that may have developed resistant bacteria through indiscriminate use of antibiotics. It can also be from the use of irrigation water exposed to faecal contamination. Moreover, plants can have direct contact with soil where antibiotic residues and resistant genes can persist for months through application of animal or poultry manure, irrigation with contaminated wastewater or even treated wastewater that may still contain trace levels of antibiotics and resistant genes, which eventually accumulate in the top soil. 

As much as 30 to 90 per cent of antibiotics given to livestock are excreted in their urine and faeces. Sometimes, processed sewage sludge from human wastewater treatment plants is recycled as fertiliser. Some farmers may even use human faecal waste directly, which may contain antibiotic-resistant traits. 

Another very concerning source of antibiotic resistance through food is the presence of resistant microbial strains in contaminated commercially available and packaged edible products, including drinks such as fruit juices, vegetable smoothies, fermented drinks, and ready-to-eat foods such as bread, shawarma, biscuits, and condiments like mayonnaise and butter. 

In Nigeria, antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli has been reported in street-vended fruit juices, with many isolates showing resistance to ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, and tetracycline, among others. Meat pies, salads, sandwiches, and other ready-to-eat foods in urban food outlets have as well showed the presence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which can even be present after cooking, as a result of post-cooking contamination. Sadly, antibiotic resistance could be a major reason why many consumers develop persistent diarrheal illnesses, foodborne salmonellosis and several other infections that do not respond to first-line antibiotics, while some require hospitalisation due to treatment failure. 

To limit the incidence of antibiotic resistance through food in our population, everyone having contact with food and drinks at every stage in food production, distribution, processing and handling stages has a significant role to play. Farmers and primary producers, food processors and manufacturers, retailers and supermarkets, policymakers and regulators, and finally, consumers must implement specific changes to reduce the spread of resistant strains. 

Farmers and other primary producers must stop using antibiotics to promote animal growth or as prophylaxis for healthy animals. Antibiotics should be used when there's an active infection. Prevention is certainly cheaper and better than cure; therefore, farmers should make tangible efforts to prevent animal infections through proper hygiene. By avoiding overcrowding of animals and poultry, better ventilation, clean feeding and water troughs, a neat environment, and provision of uncontaminated feed, farmers can reduce stress and spread of infections/diseases that make antibiotics necessary. Instead of spreading raw manure on fields, farmers can use composting or anaerobic digestion to treat manure before field application. High-heat composting can kill many resistant bacteria and break down antibiotic residues before they reach the soil. 
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Food processors and manufacturers are players in the food chain who handle the transition of food from the farm to shelves, where cross-contamination is most likely to occur. Processors of ready-to-eat foods must use specialised cleaning agents to break down bio-films (slimy bacterial colonies that can shield resistant strains from standard sanitisers). 

The importance of proper hand washing before and after handling food items cannot be overemphasised. Workers in fast food restaurants and industries producing snacks and drinks for instant consumption must maintain hygienic conditions at all times. It is very important for food processors to maintain strict zoning or separation between raw meat handling and ready-to-eat items to prevent bacteria from moving from raw products to pre-packaged salad, grilled chicken, jollof rice, shawarma and other ready-to-eat foods. Dairy and beverage suppliers should be able to prove that the products have been screened for specific antibiotic residues and resistant pathogens.
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No matter how much effort producers and processors put into ensuring that food items are in excellent condition before selling them out, retailers and supermarket have immense power to negatively change the outcome of such efforts. Retailers are the "gatekeepers" of the food supply chain. While they cannot undo resistance that started at the farm, they are responsible for ensuring that resistant strains do not multiply, spread, or cross-contaminate other products. Hence, retailers must ensure proper storage conditions in terms of temperature, humidity regulation, air filtration. 

Consistent 4 degrees Celsius is recommended for milk, cream, and unpasteurised juices. If the temperature in dairy rises by 7-10 degrees Celsius, even for a few hours, resistant Staphylococcus or Listeria can double in population. Big retail outlets can use IoT sensors to alert staff of temperature fluctuations. 

Furthermore, moving away from wooden pallets to metal or food-grade steel pallets for stocking milk and juices could prevent accidental leaks from these products from soaking into the pallet and creating breeding support for resistance microbes. 

In situations where cream or milk containers leak, wiping them off isn't sufficient. Retailers should adopt the use of enzymatic cleaners that can break down protein-rich biofilm used as a shield by resistant microbes. Regular shelves deep cleaning and clear separation of raw and ready-to-eat drinks and dairy are very essential.
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Policymakers and regulators are government agencies that set the rules for the entire industry. It is crucial for regulators to increase the testing of both imported and locally-made food items for antibiotic residues that drive resistance in the gut.  The government must invest in surveillance systems to implement farm to fork tracking to monitor specific resistant genes. 

Subsidies or grants should be provided for farmers to switch to vaccines, probiotic or plant-based medicinal formulations that protect livestock and poultry from disease occurrence. Regulators should also mandate the water, food and drinks industries to conduct in-house testing for antibiotics and resistant strains and ensure compliance with standards. 

There should also be active online reporting platforms where consumers can alert regulators about producers or retailers compromising food safety standards. Penalties must be enforced for defaulters. Regulators can engage volunteers and a task force to continually enforce hygienic conditions in open markets. 
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As much as possible, consumers should take charge of their own health. Reports have shown that although antibiotic-resistant strains can be found in both packaged and unpackaged foods, there is a higher chance of contamination by resistant strains in food items from roadside food vendors. Because they are mostly unchecked and many do not prioritise proper hygiene, it's better to avoid consuming food items from unhygienic vendors. 

Consumers must consistently follow WHO guidelines by keeping food clean, separating raw and cooked food, cooking meat properly, keeping food at safe temperatures, and using safe water/raw materials.

By using antibiotics responsibly, enforcing food safety standards, and making informed consumer choices, we can stop resistant microbes at their source. What we do consistently – from farm to fork – will determine whether antibiotics will still work in the near future.

Mojisola Karigidi, PhD, a Financial Nigeria Columnist, is a Nigerian biochemist and the founder and product developer at Moepelorse Bio Resources. She is also a Global Innovation Through Science and Technology (GIST) awardee, and an Aspen New Voices fellow.