{"id":1124,"date":"2017-06-26T16:22:27","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T20:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/burger-king-takes-action-antibiotics-sanderson-farms-takes-back-seat\/"},"modified":"2022-08-06T06:57:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-06T10:57:00","slug":"burger-king-takes-action-on-antibiotics-sanderson-farms-takes-a-back-seat","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/burger-king-takes-action-on-antibiotics-sanderson-farms-takes-a-back-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"Burger King Takes Action on Antibiotics, Sanderson Farms Takes a Back Seat"},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"campaign_tax":[177],"display_option":[],"issue_tax":[],"person_tax":[],"region_tax":[],"state":[5,7,8,9,12,13,16,18,23,24,25,28,29,2,32,33,34,36,38,40,41,42,46,50,52],"topic_tax":[149],"class_list":["post-1124","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"helper_taxonomies":{"topics":[149],"collection":false,"press_type":false,"person_type":false,"resource_type":false,"event_type":false,"campaigns":177,"department":false,"level":false,"states":[2,5,7,8,9,12,13,16,18,23,24,25,28,29,32,33,34,36,38,40,41,42,46,50,52],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":149}},"featured_image":"","caption_override":"","excerpt":"Last week another major restaurant took action to protect antibiotics, and a major laggard in the meat industry received a much-needed reality check.","updated_on":null,"sidebar_action":null,"hide_hero_image":false,"sidebar_action_query_string":""},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":[{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":4,"people":"200"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}}]},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

Last week another major restaurant took action to protect antibiotics, and a major laggard in the meat industry received a much-needed reality check.<\/p>\n

Burger King, the fourth largest restaurant chain in the U.S., and its sister company Tim Horton\u2019s, committed to no longer serve chicken raised on antibiotics important to human medicine. It plans to hit this commitment by the end of 2018 in the U.S. and Canada, according to a Reuters report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last December, we commented that Burger King\u2019s efforts to reduce antibiotic use were a step in the right direction, but that they didn\u2019t measure up<\/a> to actions from other restaurants, including McDonald\u2019s and Subway, to address this issue. The company said that it would eliminate only the use of \u201ccritically important\u201d antibiotics in its chicken supply, which sounds good but is too narrow a list of these important medicines.<\/p>\n

So does this new commitment measure up? We give a whole hearted, full throated yes. According to the reports, Burger King and Tim Horton\u2019s will eliminate the use of all antibiotics important to human medicine in its chicken supply chain, and that\u2019s a big step forward.<\/p>\n

The overuse of antibiotics in both healthcare and agriculture is making these drugs less effective. Antibiotic stewardship programs in hospitals are helping to thwart the spread<\/a> of drug resistant bacteria, but industrial agriculture\u2014where 70% of medically important antibiotics are sold in the U.S.\u2014continues to misuse and overuse our lifesaving medicines.<\/p>\n

In many cases antibiotics are given on a routine basis to animals that aren\u2019t even sick to ward off disease in often unsanitary and crowded conditions. By taking such a shortcut now, meat producers are undermining the efficacy of antibiotics in the long term. \u00a0<\/p>\n

At the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology earlier this month, presenters highlighted<\/a> the shocking speed at which bacteria resistant to a last resort antibiotic, colistin, have spread. Since it was first found in Chinese pigs less than two years ago, the gene that confers resistance to this last ditch antibiotic has emerged in people and animals around the world. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr. Lance Price, Director of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center<\/a> at the George Washington University, referred to this situation as \u201cone of the clearest examples of how antibiotic use on farms can lead to resistance in human infections.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Burger King\u2019s recent move, the top five restaurant chains in the U.S. have now all committed to a strong policy to reduce antibiotic use in their chicken supplies.<\/p>\n

The writing is on the wall, but some in the meat industry just refuse to read it.<\/p>\n

Sanderson Farms, the third largest chicken producer in the U.S, is one of the last major producers not to take steps to reduce antibiotic use in their production.<\/p>\n

In fact, Sanderson has gone in the opposite direction<\/a>. Its recent marketing campaign presents efforts to reduce antibiotic use as a mere hoodwink. According to one of its television commercials<\/a>, the phrase \u201craised without antibiotics\u201d was invented by the \u201cmarketing gurus\u201d of Madison Ave to trick people into thinking that the chicken is safer. What\u2019s more, the ads confuse the issue by stating that by federal law all chickens must be clear of antibiotics before they leave the farm.<\/p>\n

Where should I start in rebutting that ad campaign? First, the actual presence of antibiotics in the meat itself is not the real issue here<\/a>. The problem is that when animals are raised with regular, low doses of antibiotics, it can fuel the spread of drug-resistant bacteria. Those potentially dangerous bacteria can then travel off of the farm through numerous pathways into our communities. Health experts including the American Academy of Pediatrics<\/a> warn that the misuse of antibiotics on farms threatens our health.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the joke seems to be on Sanderson. Its attempts to focus consumers\u2019 attention on the presence of actual antibiotics in the meat, rather than how the current production methods breed drug resistant bacteria, may have backfired.<\/p>\n

According to a lawsuit recently filed<\/a> against Sanderson Farms by three non-profits\u2014Friends of the Earth<\/a>, Center for Food Safety, and the Organic Consumers Association\u2014some of the company\u2019s products did test positive for residues of antibiotics according to inspections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s Food Safety and Inspection Service.<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit, here are some tidbits of what USDA found on samples of Sanderson Farms \u201call natural\u201d chicken (from the Friends of the Earth media release<\/a>):<\/p>\n