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<p>Responsible use of antibiotics is an essential part of veterinary medicine: these
medicines are needed to treat bacterial disease in animals. The UK Government is committed
to reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals whilst safeguarding animal health
and welfare and antibiotic use in animals has reduced by 55% since 2014.</p><p> </p><p>In
the UK, antibiotics for animal use must be prescribed by a veterinary surgeon and
we have strict maximum residue limits for food-producing animals. There is a comprehensive
programme of statutory sampling and testing in place in the UK to look for residues
of veterinary medicines, prohibited substances and contaminants in foodstuffs – this
programme includes testing for a range of antibiotics, ensuring that they are being
used in UK livestock in accordance with their authorisation. This activity is coordinated
by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) in GB, and the results of testing and
investigations are published on GOV.UK (<a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fcollections%2Fresidues-statutory-and-non-statutory-surveillance-results&data=05%7C01%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7Cba400f417c6e45f8e53c08dbb5c7e2ec%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638303642392797024%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=FWeQ1ECrsDC%2FtpcLaM%2F0dpU1dp2le3qe%2BBVwaXdl3IU%3D&reserved=0"
target="_blank">link</a>) on a quarterly and annual basis.</p>
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