Inga Food in Spain reduces the use of antibiotics through commitment and collaboration

Amid a challenging four years for the pork industry in Spain, Nutreco’s Inga Food – world leader in Iberian pig production – was able to meet its 2025 antibiotic reduction targets more than a year early by taking a holistic approach to animal health. Combatting the global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major focus area under the health and welfare pillar of Nutreco’s sustainability RoadMap 2025.

During the last few years, legislation around animal welfare and how veterinarians prescribe drugs have put the pork production industry in Spain under pressure and created challenges for Inga Food as it pursued its AMR goals. While Inga Food’s AMR strategy focuses on antibiotics critically important for human health (CIAs), the new laws require reduction in total milligrams of antibiotics instead of prioritising any particular category. It was a challenge for Inga Food to meet these regulations while also focusing on CIAs, particularly as several serious diseases struck the industry during these years. But with a tremendous effort, they succeeded.

How did they do it? Inga Food took a holistic approach to AMR reduction, based around the three pillars of feed and water, facilities and climate, and health status. Their overall goal is to raise pigs more resistant to disease to avoid, as much as possible, the need for treatment with antibiotics.

The team made their facilities as favourable for animal health as possible. For example, they focused on temperature control, clean water and good ventilation – all of which are very important for pigs’ health.

They trained employees to implement rules on healthful practices, farm by farm, and created new feeding plans for weaned piglets. Working hand-in-hand with Nutreco, Trouw Nutrition and Nutreco’s animal nutrition operating company Nanta in Spain, they created new protocols to feed piglets that included using additives that reduce the need for antibiotics. Highly targeted autovaccines are another tool the team used to prevent the spread of disease and reduce antimicrobial use.

According to the Inga Food team, all these achievements were possible because of their colleagues’ commitment to AMR reduction, strong support from Nutreco, and a high level of cooperation across the business. Bringing together experts from all over the company – Inga Food, Nutreco global, Trouw Nutrition and Nanta – gave the team many opportunities to learn from each other and improve their approach. It also enabled them to keep in touch with what is happening across the supply chain, to help them remain at the forefront of the industry on this very important topic.

The most important thing that sets us apart is the commitment and expertise of all the teams that shared our knowledge and tried to do our best. Trouw, Nutreco and Nanta have many experienced people ready to help. There is always something you haven’t taken into account, and the team can help you recognize and manage this. And the support of the company is important – Nutreco is always helping us to do our best and trying to provide us with the best possible resources.