April 30, 2015

 

 

The list of food firms and poultry producers in the US aiming to eliminate human antibiotics from their chickens is growing.

 

The latest addition to the list is Tyson Foods, the US' largest poultry producer, which announced on Tuesday, April 28, that it intends to totally eliminate human antibiotics from their broiler chickens by the end of September 2017.

 

Already, the New York Stock Exchange-listed company has stopped using all antibiotics in its 35 broiler hatcheries, and reduced the use of human antibiotics to treat broiler chickens by 80% since 2011.

 

Moreover, it requires veterinary prescriptions for antibiotics used on broiler farms.

 

Tyson Foods president and CEO Donnie Smith acknowledged that antibiotic-resistant infections are a global health concern.

 

"We're confident our meat and poultry products are safe, but want to do our part to responsibly reduce human antibiotics on the farm so these medicines can continue working when they're needed to treat illness", he said.

 

He added, "Given the progress we've already made reducing antibiotics in our broilers, we believe it's realistic to shoot for zero by the end of our 2017 fiscal year. But we won't jeopardize animal well-being just to get there. We'll use the best available treatments to keep our chickens healthy, under veterinary supervision".

Also on cow, pigs, turkeys

 

At the same time, Tyson said it was working with farmers-both independent and those in the company's beef, pork and turkey supply chains-to reduce the use of human antibiotics on cows, pigs and turkeys.

 

Several fast-food chains have moved to eliminate from their menus chickens fed with human antibiotics. These include McDonald's and Chik-Fil-A. Tyson's competitor Perdue has also said it would end general use of human antibiotics on its poultry flocks.

 

The US food industry is under pressure from health officials to reduce or eliminate the use of human antibiotics in livestock, including animals that are not sick.

 

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said antibiotic resistance is one of the most pressing health threats facing the world today.

 

In early March, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Susan Collins filed a bill seeking to combat the overuse of medically important antibiotics in animals.

 

Under the proposed Prevention of Antibiotic Resistance Act of 2015, the FDA would be required to withdraw its approval of medically important antibiotics used for disease prevention or control that are at high risk of abuse, unless the producer of the drug can demonstrate that its use in agriculture does not pose a risk to human health-Rick Alberto