The Leading U.S. Chicken Company Is Ditching Antibiotics—and Pork and Beef May Be Next
The livestock giant Tyson produces a fifth of the country’s chicken, beef, and pork, according to its own figures. It’s the leading poultry producer in the country, and while it has already reduced the amount of antibiotics it uses in raising meat birds, or broilers, by 80 percent since 2011—and stopped using all antibiotics in its hatcheries—the company announced Tuesday that it will complete what it started. By September 2017, Tyson will no longer use human antibiotics in raising its meat birds.
"Antibiotic resistant infections are a global health concern," Donnie Smith, Tyson’s president and CEO, said in a statement. "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."
In 2013, the Food and Drug Administration announced voluntary regulations that would discontinue the practice of feeding livestock antibiotic for growth promotion. But in addition to being voluntary, there’s a significant loophole in the rules that allows the same practice, which can contribute to the development of drug-resistant bacteria, to be considered preventive care and continue unabated. The growing problem of antibiotic resistance is a significant public health crisis, costing the heath care system $20 billion and leading to 23,000 deaths annually.
With Pilgrim’s Pride, the No. 2 poultry producer in the U.S., and No. 3 producer Perdue also moving to a largely antibiotic-free future, a significant percentage of the some 9 billion birds produced annually will soon be raised without medically important drugs. The same, however, cannot be said for the rest of the livestock industry, where feeding animals regular, low doses of antibiotics to promote growth and maintain good health remains the status quo.
That’s what the public policy group Keep Antibiotics Working wants to know in the wake of the most recent in a string of announcements of poultry producers and retailers like McDonald’s cutting back on antibiotics. “While the chicken industry as a whole is making great strides in reducing antibiotic overuse, it begs the question: why are the turkey, pork and beef industries lagging so far behind?” Steve Roach, senior analyst, said in a statement.
But that’s what makes that one-fifth statistic interesting: Unlike its chicken-centric competitors, Tyson is uniquely positioned to bring the antibiotic-free movement out of the poultry house. This summer, the company will begin a series of working-group meetings aimed at reducing the use of antibiotics important to human health in beef, pork, and turkey production.
Tyson is also putting resources toward researching alternatives to antibiotics—although it would not tell Reuters how much.
Research has shown that probiotics, including the strains of bacteria found in yogurt, and antimicrobial plants like oregano can be highly effective in controlling salmonella and campylobacter infections in poultry.
So bring on the oregano-and-grass-fed beef, Tyson.
Related stories on TakePart:
• McDonald’s Is Changing Its McNuggets—and the Move Could Save Lives
• America’s Second-Largest Retail Chain Is Cutting Antibiotics From Its Meat
• 'No Antibiotics Ever' for Chicken Served in 6 Largest U.S. School Districts
Original article from TakePart
