THE ministries of health and wellness, industry and commerce and agriculture and fisheries are partnering with local private sector interests as well as global health organisations in promoting World Antimicrobial Awareness Week.

The Government launched its awareness campaigned last Friday with a tour of Seprod’s Milk and Dairy Production Plant in Bybrook, Bog Walk, St Catherine.

The awareness week focuses on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) which occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.

As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become ineffective and infections become increasingly difficult or impossible to treat.

During the tour it was noted that antimicrobial resistance is now a world concern.

But senior veterinary specialist in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Dr Kevin Walker, said it’s not a major concern in Jamaica right now.

He said “most of the prevalence studies that we have done show that we don’t have a big problem here.”

“Luckily for us here in Jamaica, most of the big industries that produce our food do not use a lot of antimicrobials. I have an expression that I like to use, we have very happy animals here so they don’t need to be using a lot of drugs. One of the things that also prohibit the use of antimicrobials here is the cost factor, antibiotics are expensive here in Jamaica so we’d rather manage the animals properly so we don’t have to go there,” he continued.

With that said, Walker disclosed that the ministry is beefing up its partnership with food producers in Jamaica to ensure a quality standard is maintained.

“We’re partnering with companies like Seprod which has moved forward to lessen the use of antimicrobials in the animals that they treat so that we can have from farm to fork a food safe product and a product that has less or really no microbes based on the innovation that is here at their facility and we don’t have the microbes that are resistant to antibiotics so that when animals or humans get sick there are no antibiotics that can treat them successfully to overcome that illness,” he added.

In commenting on the scientific rigours he observed during the antimicrobial tour of the Seprod facility, state minister in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Norman Dunn, said, “The key to the operation here is how safe we produce the product that we consume. A lot of time consumers take products from the shelves and we take it for granted that the product is safe, as they should because the ministry through its various agencies ensures that the final product is guaranteed safe, free from contamination or harmful pathogens that can be harmful to you. The products have those seal of approvals.”

But there’s no real legislation preventing food producers from using antibiotics.

Walker said “right now I don’t think we have any legislation that specifically targets that [use of antibiotics in food production] but because of public awareness and public pressure most companies have moved that way. If you go to Serge’s farm they have strict adherence to when antibiotics can be used and they ensure that the withdrawal period is maintained so that we don’t have any issues with that.”

“As highlighted on the tour the milk is tested at the farm, it’s tested when it gets here and it’s tested in the finished product as well so most companies have done the responsible thing,” he continued.

In the meantime, quality assurance and product development manager at the Seprod facility, Sasha Evans, stressed that the company is keen on employing the best scientists in Jamaica to ensure the standard of the products on the shelves remain high.

“Most of the scientists or analysts that work here are locally trained so they would have at least a first degree and some of them are also qualified at the masters’ level. We have microbiologists, chemists, nutritionists, agriculturalists. For the quality department there’s about 30 persons,” Evans noted.

World Antimicrobial Resistance Week is being observed from November 18-24, under the sub-theme ‘Antimicrobial Resistance Environmental Health and Trade: Creating Solutions’.

A trade symposium to highlight creative solutions to the problem will be held on Wednesday, November 23 and will feature Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Senator Aubyn Hill and representatives from the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).