The largest U.S. restaurant chain, McDonald’s, announced a two-year plan to stop serving chicken raised with medically important antibiotics at its 14,000 outlets. “Our customers want food they feel good about eating — all the way from the farm to the restaurant,” said McDonald’s U.S. president, Mike Andres, in a statement. The environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council said the announcement was “a big step forward” in efforts to prevent over-use of antibiotics and the development of “super bug” bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. Given McDonald’s purchasing power, “we may be at a tipping point for better antibiotic stewardship in the poultry industry,” said NRDC.
The fast-food giant also said that later this year, in its U.S. restaurants, it will begin offering low-fat milk and fat-free chocolate milk from cows that were not treated with a synthetic hormone, bovine somatotropin, that prompts cows to produce more milk. McDonald’s said there is no significant difference in milk from cows treated with BST, but “we understand this is something that is important to our customers.”
In late 2013, the FDA began a three-year phase-out of the use of medically-important antibiotics as a growth promotant. The antibacterials would remain available under a veterinarian’s direction to prevent or treat disease. McDonald’s said it would allow poultry growers to use ionophores, a type of antibiotic not used for human health. Growers can use antibiotics if their birds become ill, said McDonald’s, “and then they will no longer be included in our food supply.”
Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said McDonald’s decision was “a measured response.” For livestock producers, “it’s important to have the option of use” of antibiotics, he said. “In McDonald’s case, it obviously is being done because they believe it will help them in the marketplace.” Reuters said, “The move 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.”
For a 2014 list compiled by Pew Charitable Trusts of “top food companies moving away from overuse of antibiotics on industrial farms,” click here. An NRDC blog at the end of 2014 said, “Companies like Applegate, Chipotle, and Panera Bread are leading their industries to make antibiotic-free options more readily available to American consumers.”
FDA’s “guidance for industry” document on non-therapeutic use of antibiotics is available here.