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 The world's biggest restaurant chain announced on Wednesday that
within two years, McDonald's USA will only buy chickens raised
without antibiotics that are important to human medicine. The
concern is that the overuse of antibiotics for poultry may diminish
their effectiveness in fighting disease in humans. McDonald's policy
will begin at the hatchery, where chicks are sometimes injected with
antibiotics while still in the shell.
"We're listening to our customers," Marion Gross, senior vice
president of McDonald's North American supply chain, told Reuters.
She said the company is working with its domestic chicken suppliers,
including Tyson Foods Inc, to make the transition.
Veterinary use of antibiotics is legal. However, as the rate of
human infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria increases,
consumer advocates and public health experts have become more
critical of the practice of routinely feeding antibiotics to
chickens, cattle and pigs.
Scientists and public health experts say whenever an antibiotic is
administered, it kills weaker bacteria and can enable the strongest
to survive and multiply. Frequent use of low-dose antibiotics, a
practice used by some meat producers, can intensify that effect. The
risk, they say, is that so-called superbugs might develop
cross-resistance to critical, medically important antibiotics.
Superbugs are linked to an estimated 23,000 human deaths and 2
million illnesses every year in the United States, and up to $20
billion in direct healthcare costs, according to the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
Poultry producers began using antibiotics in the 1940s, not long
after scientists discovered that penicillin, streptomycin and
chlortetracycline helped control outbreaks of disease in chickens.
The drugs offered an added benefit: They kept the birds' digestive
tracts healthy, and chickens were able to gain more weight without
eating more food.
Gross said McDonald's expects its suppliers will treat any animals
that become ill, using antibiotics when prescribed. McDonald's,
however, will not buy those treated chickens, she said.
The poultry industry's lobby takes issue with the concerns of
government and academic scientists, saying there is little evidence
that bacteria which do become resistant also infect people.
This may be a "tipping point for antibiotic use in the poultry
industry," said Jonathan Kaplan, the Natural Resources Defense
Council's food and agriculture program director.
"McDonald's has so much purchasing power and brand recognition, I
think we're seeing a new industry standard here," Kaplan said.
"For public health, this is really a game changer," said Gail
Hansen, a senior officer for Pew Charitable Trusts' antibiotic
resistance project.
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There are exceptions to McDonald's new policy. The company will buy
chicken from farmers who "responsibly use" ionophores, an animal
antibiotic not used in human medical treatment, Gross said.
The phase-out applies only to McDonald's roughly 14,000 U.S.
restaurants. It currently does not affect the company's
approximately 22,000 international restaurants.
The action by McDonald's, which has been fighting to win back diners
and bolster sagging U.S. sales, is in step with consumer demand for
food made with 'clean' and more 'natural' ingredients. But it falls
short of similar policies at smaller chains such as Chipotle Mexican
Grill and Panera Bread Co, which ban the use of ionophores.
Tyson, the largest U.S. meat processor, told Reuters in a statement
it supported McDonald's decision and that its chicken operations
have reduced the use of antibiotics that are effective in humans by
more than 84 percent since 2011. The company expects to continue
reductions.
A Reuters investigation last year revealed that some of the nation's
largest poultry producers routinely fed chickens an array of
antibiotics, not just when sickness strikes, but as a standard
practice over most of the birds' lives.
The Reuters report also found that low doses of antibiotics were
part of the standard diet for some of Tyson's flocks, including two
internal company documents showing the use of bacitracin. Though
that drug is not classified as medically important by the federal
Food and Drug Administration, bacitracin is commonly used to prevent
human skin infections.
Tyson said it disagreed with the findings of the Reuters
investigation but has since taken further steps to reduce or halt
antibiotic use, including in its chicken hatcheries.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and P.J. Huffstutter in
Chicago; Editing by Ken Wills, Jeffrey Benkoe and John Pickering)
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