Dr Hurd emphasised that pork producers adopted withdrawal periods for antibiotics, which protected the meat supply. The main issue was actually resistant organisms - so Hurd says it is a much bigger, more difficult topic.

In 2000, Denmark implemented a blanket ban on preventative antibiotics. That ban has been repeatedly highlighted in media reports about antibiotic resistance. Hurd, who spent some time in Denmark as the ban was moving forward, is able to offer some perspective on the Danish ban.

"Immediately after that ban, in swine the number of pigs that had to be treated for illness actually doubled and that trend continued for many years after the ban," Hurd said.

"The World Health Organization did a study in 2002 and they said very clearly they could find no evidence that human health has actually improved or that risk has actually been reduced."

The media has unfairly portrayed this as a food safety story. Hurd says an antibiotic ban would actually decrease the health of meat animals entering the food supply.

"Antibiotics and other treatments and management are used in livestock in order to produce healthy animals, which result in healthy food," Hurd said.