UK supermarkets not doing enough to tackle antibiotic misuse, report says

Most supermarkets sell fast-growing breeds of broiler chickens, which require up to nine times more antibiotics than slower-growing varieties. Photograph: Mood Board/REX

None of the UK’s large supermarket chains are ensuring their suppliers use antibiotics in the most responsible way, an assessment by campaigners has found, despite heightened concerns about their overuse in farm animals.

Supermarkets play an important role in the fight against superbugs, because most of the world’s antibiotics are used on livestock and retailers can enforce strict standards on the farm suppliers they use. Resistant bacteria known as superbugs are rapidly developing, posing an increasing risk to human health.