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What we introduce into our bodies can either nourish us or make us ill. Not long ago, I wrote about how food consumption impacts the risk of colorectal cancer. However, what of food production?

Across the planet, we are observing the expansion of cheap meat, primarily driven by demand from a growing affluent population that now has the means to purchase poultry and red meat, which were once out of reach. Roughly 45% of global consumption growth is taking place in upper-middle-income countries such as China, India, Brazil, Indonesia and the Philippines. Poultry is set to take an greater portion of that expansion, estimated to grow by 21% by 2034, since it is more affordable, culturally popular and requires less input per kilogram than red meat. By 2034, it is estimated that poultry will provide 45% of the protein consumed from all meat sources.

But this comes with consequences. With scarce acreage and tight schedules, the approach in numerous nations has been to employ antimicrobials extensively. This isn’t just to treat illness but additionally as a prophylactic to prevent disease in overpopulated environments. Furthermore, giving antibiotics causes farm animals to gain weight more rapidly, although scientists do not know exactly why. This situation means that, in contrast to their application in people—where antibiotics are typically prescribed to treat illness—their use in farming is far more common and uncontrolled. Research tracking their consumption estimate that 73% of all antibiotics sold worldwide are used in animals raised for food.

This massive misuse is causing a rise in drug-resistant bacteria. For example, resistance to colistin, a final-line treatment, first developed in E. coli microorganisms that then infected pigs. The bacteria was afterwards detected in swine handlers. Only required are aeroplanes and global travel networks for these pathogens to spread globally. And now, resistant strains have been identified not only in hospitals in China but around the globe.

What does this mean for someone sitting in a doctor’s office or a medical center in the UK? It signifies that infections that were previously simple to cure—such as otitis, UTIs or post-operative infections—become untreatable even after a dose of antibiotics. It implies that surgeries such as caesarean sections, hip replacements and cancer therapies that rely on immune suppression all become riskier. Although novel antimicrobials are technically possible to create, the development process is lengthy and expensive. We have to conserve the arsenal we have.

The remedies to this problem can only come from changing global food production. Admittedly, the United Kingdom has achieved notable reductions in reducing antimicrobial use in livestock. Sales of veterinary antimicrobials reared for food has dropped by 59% since 2014. The use of this last-resort drug is now effectively zero. The use of critically important antibiotics has dropped to less than 0.5% of all veterinary antimicrobial distribution. And, research by European agencies suggested 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.

But just concentrating on the United Kingdom or Europe is a drop in the bucket. If the major emerging economies are included in discussions on how meat is produced, we remain just as vulnerable to antibiotic resistance. The challenge is that moving towards different production practices requires additional land and time: increasing the cost of animal protein in highly populated nations can rapidly cause public protests, governmental opposition and discontent. The health imperative is evident, but this needs to be balanced with considerations of nutritional access, financial factors and consumer expectations.

Climate scientists have long warned about the ecological impacts of the current global food system, whether it’s greenhouse gases, biodiversity loss, or forest clearing. But these effects often seem long-term and theoretical, especially for people facing cost-of-living pressures or concerned with short-term medical services.

Antimicrobial resistance is concrete. Almost everyone has used antimicrobials at some point, and we can imagine what would occur if their curative power was abruptly lost. Agriculture, health and climate are all connected. How pork is farmed in Asia affects whether your offspring’s medication work in Edinburgh. Whether a woman in Lagos survives a caesarean is tied to how chickens are raised in South America.

If we address these widespread, global issues, such as how our food is produced and how we utilize our existing drugs, we risk losing something precious: the ability to cure bacterial diseases that we assume will always work today.