On Tuesday 7 May, a conference on antimicrobial resistance was held in Brussels under the Belgian presidency of the Council. During this event, Agriculture Minister David Clarinval stressed the urgency of introducing mirror clauses on imported animal products containing high levels of antibiotics.
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most pressing challenges of our time, seriously threatening modern medicine and global health.
Its repercussions also extend to agriculture, the environment and human health, within a “One Health” concept. For decades, Belgium has actively fought this resistance in the agricultural sector. Thanks to these efforts, antibiotic sales fell by 58% between 2011 and 2022 in the animal sector.
The European Commission has set a target of reducing antibiotic sales for farm animals and aquaculture in the EU by 50% by 2030, and more than half of this target had already been reached by 2022. However, according to Minister Clarinval, although the animal sector has become aware of the risks and taken responsibility, challenges remain.
As David Clarinval had made one of his priorities for the presidency: strengthening biosecurity practices is a cost-effective strategy for further reducing antibiotic use. In Belgium, the farm veterinarian carries out a compulsory annual assessment of the biosecurity status of pig, poultry, dairy cattle and veal calf farms. Vaccination, vaccine availability, and research and development of new vaccines must be encouraged.
But trade relations are also an important avenue, as the minister emphasised during this conference: “I believe it is vital to ensure that our trading partners provide guarantees that they will respect the same level of excellence. Our farmers comply with strict rules in this area and are at a disadvantage compared to non-European producers. That is why I strongly encourage the European Commission to develop mirror measures on the use of antibiotics in animal health as part of our trade with third countries. We are working on this within the framework of Belgium's presidency of the Agrifish Council.”