Investors
call on Sanderson, Denny's, McDonald's to cut antibiotics
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[December 14, 2017] By
Lisa Baertlein
(Reuters) - An investor coalition that
presses for corporate responsibility is calling on U.S. food companies
McDonald's Corp, Denny's Corp and Sanderson Farms Inc to stop buying or
producing meat raised with medically important antibiotics.
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Members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)
have filed shareholder resolutions at each of the companies, ICCR
said in a statement on Thursday.
If the resolutions are not successfully challenged by the companies,
they will come up for vote at the companies' next shareholders
meetings.
ICCR members, alongside other campaigners, have had previous success
in convincing most U.S. chicken producers to stop using medically
important antibiotics.
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Scientists and public health experts for years have warned that the
regular use of antibiotics to promote growth and prevent illness in
healthy farm animals contributes to the development and spread of
drug-resistant superbugs that can infect people.
The World Health Organization earlier this year recommended that
meat producers end such practices.
Fast-food chain McDonald's USA last year shifted to chicken raised
without medically important antibiotics. The latest shareholder
resolution, sponsored by the Congregation of Benedictine Sisters of
Boerne, Texas, calls on McDonald's Corp <MCD.N> to adopt a similar
sourcing policy for beef or pork.
Adopting such a policy would move McDonald's closer to rivals
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc <CMG.N> and Panera Bread Co, which serve
chicken, pork and beef from animals raised without antibiotics
important to human health.
The Benedictine Sisters also want restaurant chain Denny's <DENN.O>
to make a "starter" commitment to reduce the use of such drugs in
its chicken supply, said Nadira Narine, senior program director at
ICCR.
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McDonald's and Denny's did not immediately reply to requests for
comment.
ICCR member As You Sow is pressuring Sanderson Farms <SAFM.O> to
shift its stance on antibiotics. Sanderson is the only large U.S.
chicken producer that has not committed to curbing the use of the
drugs.
A similar proposal at Sanderson's annual meeting in February 2017
received the backing of around 30 percent of shareholder votes.
Sanderson declined to comment.
In the past, the low-cost chicken producer has said that the
preventative use of antibiotics in food animals has not been shown
to harm human health.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles, Editing by Rosalba
O'Brien)
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