Tyson Foods Inc., which is the country’s biggest poultry supplier, announced this week that it plans to eliminate the use of human antibiotics in its chicken flocks by 2017. The impending deadline is being described as “one of the most aggressive timelines yet set by an American poultry company.”
The decision, which was announced on Tuesday, comes in the wake of McDonald’s recent announcement that it plans to phase out antibiotic-treated chicken over the next two years. McDonald’s is one of Tyson’s biggest customers.
Tyson’s aggressive move away from human antibiotics is a big deal for the meat industry, according to nutrition experts and consumer advocates in the field. Since about one in five chickens sold in the United States are from Tyson, the new policy could have a big ripple effect at a time when American consumers are growing increasingly concerned about the public health risk posed by the overuse of antibiotics in their food.
The vast majority of antibiotics sold in the United States are used in livestock, rather than in people. Food companies rely on the drugs in order to spur animal growth and to stem the spread of illnesses among animals, particularly on factory farms that are often overcrowded with animals in close quarters. But there have been some consequences to this approach: The widespread use of antibiotics has allowed bacteria to mutate and become resistant to the drugs used to treat them, leading to the rise of so-called “superbugs.”
Now, more than half of the meat sold in the U.S. contains antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and there’s mounting evidence that superbugs in animals can have consequences for human health. Although federal health officials have repeatedly expressed concern about the overuse of antibiotics in the meat industry, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released only voluntary guidelines that don’t do enough to crack down on large companies who continue using too many drugs.
Nonetheless, it appears that American consumers have been able to exert some influence in this area. More people are seeking out antibiotic-free meat, and the majority of Americans say they’d be willing to pay a little more for meat that’s raised without the use of antibiotics. Experts say that’s helping to facilitate a larger market shift that’s outpacing the FDA’s guidelines.
“We are seeing companies come to the table because of public pressure in a way they haven’t before,” Susan Vaughn Grooters, a policy analyst for the health and animal wellness coalition Keep Antibiotics Working, told the Wall Street Journal last fall.
Other companies — including Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, and Costco — have also recently committed to scaling down the use of antibiotics in their products, putting pressure on other sectors of the food industry to follow suit. Perdue Farms recently phased out the practice of injecting antibiotics into eggs that are about to hatch, a process that the company said took more than a decade to fully implement. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, the second-largest poultry supplier in the country, has committed to eliminating antibiotics from a quarter of its chicken production by 2019.
As more food producers fall in line, the momentum shows no sign of abating. The policy set forth by Tyson Foods “sends a message to other producers that the tides are turning,” according to Nicole McCann, the director of food campaigns for the advocacy group Green America.