AHDB Pork issues further guidance on eMB-Pigs

AHDB has produced a step-by-step video to adding antibiotic usage into eMB-Pigs and will be hosting a webinar next week to offer further guidance.

The video, which is posted on You Tube, can be seen here.

You can sign up for the webinar, which will take place on Tuesday, October 18, at 6pm here.

Next month a printed guide will be posted out to producers, as well as being available online.

eMB Pigs was developed by AHDB Pork and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) as a UK-wide website enabling producers to provide aggregated and anonymous records of antibiotic usage.

However, despite significant progress in September, when one of the country’s biggest pig-producing companies uploaded its data, overall uptake remains low.

The latest figures released by AHDB Pork show data from 432 sites has been uploaded onto the system and, cumulatively over two years, entries have covered more than five million pigs.

But the data shows only about 14 per cent of pigs going that have gone to slaughter in 2015 and 2016 are covered by the data.

eMB-Pigs is already compulsory under the Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) scheme for pigs.

Red Tractor

The NPA has recommended that entering data into it should be made compulsory under the Red Tractor scheme, which covers 90 per cent of pig production. Following consultation with members and subject to approval by the Red Tractor Pork board, the change is expected to come in next year.

Enabling AHDB to collate industry-wide information on antibiotic usage is seen as essential to ensuring fair and proportionate targets are set for the pig sector to reduce its antibiotic next year as the Government implements the O’Neill AMR recommendations.

AHDB Pork vet team manager Martin Smith said: “The interest from producers has been good but we need to get the whole industry on board.

“It is vital we get the whole industry on board and provide a benchmark for the amount of antibiotics actually being used by the end of the year. Next year targets for antibiotic reduction will be introduced and we need to know how much is being used or those targets could be hard to meet.

“Using eMB is very straightforward and can, if producers wish, replace their existing medicines book.”