New report compiled by researchers from ETH Zürich, Princeton and the University of Cambridge expects use of antibiotics in animal farming to rise by another 52% by 2030.

“Globally, animals receive almost three times as many antibiotics than people, although much of this use is not medically necessary, and many new strains of antibiotic-resistant infections are now common in people after originating in our livestock”

“As global demand for meat grows and agriculture continues to transition from extensive farming and smallholdings to more intensive practices, the use of antimicrobials in food production will increasingly threaten the efficacy of these life-saving drugs.”

If you had any doubts the UK meat industry’s out of control here’s more miserable news.

This is an example of why Scotland for Animals campaigns not only for mandatory abattoir CCTV but for any monitoring to include bodies independent of food operators and authorities.

An almost unbelievable display of hypocrisy through week as Richard Lochhead MSP was spotted outside Holyrood joining campaigners calling for tougher sentencing for animal cruelty.

Throughout his many years as Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment Lochhead consistently blocked attempts to improve welfare in the meat industry from abattoir CCTV to a ban on unstunned slaughter. We shudder to think the suffering this character and his cohorts have enabled as a result.

This is either a crisis of conscience or rank opportunism. Knowing Lochhead’s record we would suggest it’s the latter.

Please don’t be sucked in by these con-artists.