|
 The ongoing push by Costco, which sells 80 million rotisserie
chickens a year, highlights growing pressure on the supply chain in
the wake of this week's announcement by fast-food giant McDonald's
Corp that it would stop buying chicken raised with so-called
"shared-use" antibiotics within two years.
"We are working towards, and working with our suppliers and the
regulatory agencies... to see how we can get rid of shared-use
antibiotics in animals," Craig Wilson, vice president of food safety
at the Issaquah, Washington-based retail giant, said in a phone
interview.
"I think all of us want to move to a point where we can get the
human-use antibiotics out of the system. It's going to take time."
Wilson and Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said the
company did not have a target date for reaching that goal, a
reflection of supply constraints.
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 amplify that effect. The
risk is that so-called superbugs might develop cross-resistance to
medically important antibiotics.
"I mean, you’ve got to protect human health beyond everything, and
so we think eliminating shared-use antibiotics is the right way to
go," Wilson said.
[to top of second column] |
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued voluntary
guidelines to regulate antibiotic use by producers of poultry and
other livestock. Antibiotics rated medically important by the FDA
for growth promotion are scheduled to be phased out by December
2016.
Wilson said Costco has been working with the FDA and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention on the goal of eliminating shared-use
antibiotics. The Center for Veterinary Medicine is involved in the
effort as well, he said.
Over the years Costco has grown into one of the largest retailers of
food. Fresh food, including meat, produce, deli and bakery items,
accounted for 13 percent of its $110 billion in net sales in the
last fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne; Editing by Ken Wills)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
