The responsible use of antibiotics
The responsible use of antibiotics
While Skretting follows a holistic approach to fish health, whereby prevention through farming best-practices is better than cure, it’s important to highlight that despite all of the preventative measures aimed at reducing disease risks, aquatic species still succumb to various health challenges. In these instances, medicated feeds remain the least invasive method of administering medicines, facilitating the effective treatment of these animals in a controlled, safe and welfare-friendly manner.
Our medicated feeds incorporate specifically authorised veterinary medicinal products. They are produced under controlled conditions in separate production lines to avoid the risk of cross contamination of medicine to other feeds. We also have a strong focus on lead time to ensure that animals get their treatments as quickly as possible.
The use of veterinary medicines in aquaculture, including antibiotics, is subject to specific laws and regulations. This legislation varies from region to region. Our feeds do not contain any antibiotics unless prescribed by a registered veterinarian for treating a specific and diagnosed disease. As such, antibiotics in feed supplied by Skretting are used therapeutically and never prophylactically, maintaining our stance that industry-wide, antibiotics should be used as little as possible – under strict medical controls, and only when necessary.
We’re committed to working alongside our customers to assist them and support their antibiotic reduction policies.
As laid out by our RoadMap 2025, we believe that innovating new products and services will directly reduce aquaculture’s dependency on antibiotic use in fish husbandry. Indeed, a strategy within the roadmap is aimed specifically at significantly curtailing the dependency on antibiotics in the animal husbandry sector.
We’re also committed to working alongside our customers to assist them and support their antibiotic reduction policies. We’ll do this by assisting in best-practice protocols as a service as well as offering a spectrum of feed additive solutions to reduce dependency and unnecessary use of antibiotics. Additionally, we will look to collaborate with other stakeholders and non-customers to establish best-practice when it comes to antibiotic use. We believe that collectively these measures will help reduce the potential risks to people that are associated with anti-microbial resistance (AMR).
“At Skretting, we are strongly working towards reducing the use of antibiotics in aquaculture, through recommending best farming practices, encouraging the use of vaccines and promoting the use of health diets to minimise the risk of disease. However, when bacterial diseases occur in farmed animals, we do believe that the prudent use of antibiotics in feed is an important tool to safeguard the animals’ long-term health and welfare, which is essentially connected to food safety and human health.” Tra-My Le, Global Product Manager Pharmafeed, Skretting
At Skretting, we are strongly working towards reducing the use of antibiotics in aquaculture.