April 11, 2008

Tyson's marketing program under second challenge

Perdue Farms and Sanderson Farms has requested a federal judge to order Tyson Foods to stop using its "raised without antibiotics that impact antibiotic resistance in humans" labelling, citing it to be misleading, despite that the label has been approved by the USDA.

The two companies said the advertisement label is misleading because the consumers could be led to think that other companies use antibiotics that affect human resistance when the contrary is true.

All three companies use feed containing ionophores, which are mostly considered as antibiotics. However, the substance is not used on humans and therefore is not believed to raise human health concerns.

Tyson had originally advertised its chickens as "raised without antibiotics" but has since modified it to a version that is allowed by the USDA.

Tyson has asked the US district judge Richard Bennett to dismiss the lawsuit, with Bennett saying that the decision will come in seven days.