Released as part of the 2026 Antibiotic Stewardship Report, the BPC’s Antibiotic Stewardship Programme has achieved its lowest-ever recorded overall antibiotic use.
In total, members of the programme have reduced antibiotic use by more than 86% since 2012.
Marking ten years since the poultry sector first began publishing this data in 2016, the report confirms that total antibiotic use fell to its lowest level in the scheme’s history, at 11.15 tonnes in 2025, down from 13.70 tonnes in 2024.
The BPC said this represents an 86.4% reduction in total antibiotic use since the 2012 baseline of 81.67 tonnes, and a 96.8% reduction in the use of critically important antibiotics (CIAs), those most vital to human medicine, over the same period.
Polymyxins, a class of last-resort antibiotics, have not been used in UK poultry meat production for nine consecutive years.
“An 82% reduction in use since 2014 is a remarkable achievement, which has been accompanied over a similar period by marked reductions in antimicrobial resistance in the indicator bacteria E. coli from healthy broilers and turkeys,” said Kitty Healey, head of surveillance division at the Veterinary Medicines Directorate.
“The British Poultry Council were the early adopters of action on AMR, establishing the BPC Antibiotic Stewardship Programme in 2011. These results underline the long-term beneficial impact of stewardship actions taken by poultry farmers, vets and industry partners in reducing not just antibiotic use, but crucially, antibiotic resistance.”
The sector has also recorded zero prophylactic antibiotic use for the 10th consecutive year, following a voluntary commitment made by the industry in 2016 to end preventative use entirely.
Máire Burnett, technical director at the British Poultry Council, added: “An 86% reduction in use since 2012, and a 97% reduction in the antibiotics that matter most to human health, is the result of all the hard work of farmers and vets who have a duty of care to their animals.
“This is not a race to zero. We want the ability to treat sick birds without compromising their health and welfare while safeguarding the efficacy of antibiotics. Consumers and retailers can be confident that British poultry meat is produced responsibly, and this report is the evidence.”
