The Antimicrobial Resistance Crisis — And What It Means For Food Systems

What is being done about AMR in food?

Karen Constable

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CDC via Unsplash

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an urgent global threat which resulted in the deaths of 5 million people globally in 2019, according to the US CDC. By comparison, COVID-19 has killed 6.9 million people in the three years since the pandemic began (source). Antimicrobial resistance, therefore, is more deadly than the global Covid pandemic. And it’s not going away. It’s predicted to cause 10 million deaths per year by 2050 if we don’t solve the problem.

Antimicrobial resistance was recently designated one of the top 10 public health threats facing humanity by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms are difficult to control using traditional technologies, like antibiotic drugs and disinfectant chemicals. When they cause infections in humans, the infections are harder to treat and more likely to be deadly. Antimicrobial-resistant organisms also wreak havoc on food production systems, by causing difficult-to-control crop diseases or animal diseases.

For example, rice leaf blast, a fungal disease caused by Pyricularia oryzae has seen the emergence of new variants resistant to fungicides, which threatens rice crops in affected areas (source).

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Karen Constable

I keep you up to date with food integrity news (food safety and food fraud). Creator of the ultra-popular Food Fraud Risk Information Trello board.