Fourteen of the top 25 restaurant chains in the United States are telling farmers to restrict the routine use of antibiotics in chickens, compared with nine a year ago, according to the annual Chain Reaction report. “While restaurant chains made great progress on chicken, the groups found that there were no new commitments to limit antibiotic use in beef and pork.”
The consumer, environmental, and public health groups that compiled the report said that more careful use of antibiotics on livestock farms will help preserve the effectiveness of the antimicrobials used against disease in humans. They said that 22 of the 25 chains monitored for the report “have not adopted time-bound commitments for limiting use of antibiotics in pork and beef.” Chickens grow to market size in weeks, while hogs and cattle require months. “Close to half of U.S. chicken is raised by suppliers that follow responsible practices or that have pledged to do so in the near future,” said the groups.
Panera and Chipotle “remain industry leaders and earned ‘A’ grades for having comprehensive policies restricting the use of antibiotics in nearly all beef, pork, turkey, and chicken served in their stores,” said the groups. They said KFC was the most improved chain. Eleven chains were assigned a failing grade.