Foodborne illnesses have long posed a serious public health risk, but in recent decades, their threat has intensified with the emergence of antibiotic resistance—what the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has described as “one of the greatest global public health challenges of our time.” The industrial animal sector is both a leading cause of the deepening antibiotic resistance crisis and a primary source of foodborne illnesses.
Antibiotics are administered to farmed animals not only when they are acutely ill, but also routinely, accelerating growth and preventing disease in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions. This routine application of antibiotics creates the perfect environment for resistant bacteria to emerge and thrive within animal populations, then spread to humans.
As the bacteria responsible for common foodborne infections (such as salmonella, e. coli, and campylobacter) develop resistance to multiple antibiotics, treating once-manageable illnesses has become increasingly difficult. Each year in the United States, foodborne illnesses with antibiotic resistance sicken 430,000 people. Salmonella alone (from food and other sources) accounts for 100,000 cases of multidrug-resistant infections (where specific bacteria are resistant to multiple antibiotics). Antibiotic-resistant infections no longer respond to standard treatment, heightening the risk of longer, more severe infections, hospitalizations, and in some cases, death—especially among vulnerable populations. As antibiotic resistance continues to erode the effectiveness of our most critical medicines, understanding its connection to the food we eat is more urgent than ever.
Antibiotic resistance is primarily caused by the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, and nowhere are antibiotics more widely abused than in the industrial animal sector; 66% of all antibiotics that are medically important for treating human disease are sold for use in farmed animals.
While such drugs, often administered through feed or water over long periods, are not intended to treat specific infections, they do accelerate growth and mitigate the health risks that arise from the intrinsically unsanitary conditions of high-density confinement systems.
While this practice may help keep animals alive in challenging environments, it comes at a significant cost to public health. When antibiotics are used in low, consistent amounts—known as subtherapeutic dosing—they do not kill all bacteria. Instead, they create selective pressure that allows the most resistant microbes to survive and multiply. Over time, these resistant bacteria come to dominate the population, rendering common antibiotics ineffective. Even more concerning is that many of these bacteria can share their resistance traits with other bacteria by passing along small pieces of genetic material. This means that antibiotic resistance can spread not just among similar bacteria, but also among completely different types, making the problem even harder to control. The result is the rise of multidrug-resistant bacteria, or “superbugs,” that can infect humans and are increasingly difficult—and sometimes impossible—to treat.
Some of the most common bacteria responsible for foodborne illness—salmonella, campylobacter, and e. coli—have developed dangerous levels of antibiotic resistance, and industrial animal agriculture plays a major role in their spread. These pathogens are frequently found in meat and poultry products and are increasingly resistant to the antibiotics doctors rely on to treat serious infections. Multidrug-resistant subspecies of Salmonella were first documented in the 1950s and have escalated in severity since then. Multidrug-resistant e. coli has increasingly been identified in contaminated meat. These developments impede our ability to treat severe cases of salmonella and e. coli, as well as additional life-threatening human diseases.
Resistant bacteria don’t just stay on the farm or in the food supply. They spread to people through undercooked meat, contaminated water or soil, person-to-person contact, and even through the air near large-scale animal operations. Farmworkers and nearby communities are especially vulnerable, but the risk doesn’t end there. Animal waste, often used as fertilizer or discharged into nearby fields, can disperse resistant bacteria to farms growing fresh fruits and vegetables, creating another route of exposure—even for consumers who don’t purchase meat or come into contact with farmed animals.
The public health consequences are serious. Infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria can lead to longer illnesses, more hospitalizations, and higher death rates—especially among young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems. The CDC and the World Health Organization have issued warnings about the rising threat of antibiotic-resistant foodborne pathogens, calling for urgent action to address this growing crisis.
Reducing the risk of foodborne illness, curbing the overuse of antibiotics, and improving animal welfare go hand-in-hand. Subtherapeutic use of antibiotics breeds more pernicious foodborne illnesses and is doubly abusive of animals. It artificially multiplies the animals’ growth rate, and it consigns billions of farmed animals to live in high-density, filthy, disease-ridden, stressful conditions, when, without routine antibiotics, they could only survive in a more humane environment.
Animal farming must be reformed so that antibiotics can be reserved strictly for treating diagnosed infections under veterinary oversight. Better sanitation, more space, improved ventilation, and higher animal welfare standards would lead to lower disease rates and reduce the need for routine antimicrobials. Alternatives such as vaccination programs and breeding animals for greater disease resistance would also help limit reliance on antimicrobial drugs. Strengthening federal policies—such as enforcing stricter limits on medically important drugs and mandating antibiotic use reporting—would help close regulatory loopholes that allow overuse of antibiotics to continue unchecked.
Along with reforming regulations, reducing demand for animal products offers one of the most direct and effective ways to reduce both foodborne illness risk and antibiotic resistance. Plant-based diets, which avoid the use of antibiotics entirely, bypass the public health threats associated with intensive animal agriculture. Even plant-forward diets reduce the risks. Shifts to plant-based and plant-forward diets lower demand for animal products, thus reducing the scale of industrial animal agriculture and lowering the risk of plant foods becoming contaminated.
Ultimately, protecting public health requires transforming how we produce and consume food. By adopting stricter antibiotic regulations, improving farming practices, and embracing plant-based diets, we can curb the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and reduce the risk of foodborne illness at its source.