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The substances we consume can alternatively nourish us or cause sickness. Not long ago, I wrote about how dietary habits influences the risk of colon cancer. But what about food production?

Globally, we are observing the expansion of low-cost animal protein, primarily fueled by consumer desire from a growing affluent population that now has the means to purchase beef, pork and chicken, items that were once out of reach. Approximately 45% of global consumption growth is occurring in nations with rising economies such as China, India, Brazil, Indonesia and the Philippines. Chicken is set to take an greater portion of that expansion, estimated to increase by 21% by 2034, because it is more affordable, culturally popular and needs less input per kilogram compared with red meat. By 2034, it is estimated that poultry will provide 45% of the dietary protein consumed from animal-based foods.

However this comes with consequences. With scarce acreage and intense time pressure, the approach in many countries has been to employ antimicrobials extensively. This is not only to treat illness but also as a prophylactic to avoid sickness in crowded conditions. And, administering antimicrobials causes farm animals to gain weight more rapidly, although researchers do not know exactly why. All of this means that, in contrast to their use for humans—where antimicrobials are typically prescribed to treat illness—their use in farming is far more common and indiscriminate. Research tracking their consumption estimate that 73% of all antimicrobials distributed globally are utilized in livestock production.

This enormous overuse is causing a rise in drug-resistant bacteria. As an illustration, colistin resistance, a “last-resort antibiotic”, initially emerged in E coli bacteria that subsequently infected swine. E coli was afterwards found in pig farmers. All it takes are aeroplanes and international transport for these microbes to spread globally. And now, colistin-resistant bacteria have been discovered not only in medical facilities in China but around the globe.

What does this mean for someone sitting in a GP clinic or a medical center in England or Scotland? It means that bacterial illnesses that were previously simple to cure—such as ear infections, UTIs or surgical site infections—become incurable even after a dose of antibiotics. It means that operations such as C-sections, joint surgeries and oncology treatments that rely on immune suppression all become riskier. Although novel antimicrobials are technically possible to create, the pipeline is slow and expensive. We have to conserve the arsenal we currently possess.

The remedies to this problem can exclusively come from changing worldwide agriculture. To be fair, the UK has achieved notable reductions in reducing antibiotics in farming. Sales of veterinary antimicrobials reared for food has dropped by 59% since 2014. The application of this last-resort drug is now virtually nonexistent. The use of highest-priority antimicrobials has fallen to less than 0.5% of all animal antibiotic sales. And, studies by several EU bodies indicated that after antibiotic use in agriculture was cut by nearly half between 2014 and 2021, antibiotic resistance in E coli across the bloc also began to decline.

However just focusing on the United Kingdom or Europe is a minor effort. If the large middle-income countries are part of the conversation on how animal protein is farmed, we remain just as vulnerable to drug-resistant infections. The challenge is that adopting alternative farming methods requires additional land and duration: increasing the cost of animal protein in highly populated nations can rapidly cause public protests, governmental opposition and frustration. The medical necessity is evident, but this needs to be balanced with considerations of nutritional access, financial factors and public demand.

Climate scientists have long warned about the environmental costs of the current global food system, whether it’s methane emissions, species decline, or deforestation. But these consequences often feel long-term and abstract, especially for people struggling with cost-of-living pressures or concerned with immediate healthcare access.

Antimicrobial resistance is concrete. Almost everyone has taken antibiotics at some point, and we can imagine what would happen if their infection-clearing effect was suddenly switched off. Food production, medicine and the environment are all connected. How pig meat is farmed in Asia influences whether your offspring’s medication are effective in Scotland. Whether a woman in Lagos recovers from a C-section is tied to how chickens are farmed in South America.

Unless we confront these widespread, global issues, such as how our food is produced and how we use our current medications, we endanger something invaluable: the capacity to cure bacterial diseases that we assume will always work now.