McDonald's will stop purchasing meat raised with antibiotics

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  Oct, 2003  

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Under pressure from consumers and scientists concerned about overuse of antibiotics on US farms, McDonald's said it will tell its meat suppliers to stop using antibiotics and growth promoters in the food animals the fast-food giant purchases.

McDonald's implemented the new policy in June. The company will forbid direct suppliers from using some 24 antibiotic growth promoters to raise animals, the antibiotics that are most closely related to those for human use. The policy will take effect globally by 2004 and demand that suppliers keep records and submit regular audits, strengthening the new program.

"When a large company does something like this, it's an important step. They will set the tone in the marketplace," said Linda Tollefson, deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine.

It is a huge victory for consumers who want to preserve the efficacy of often lifesaving antibiotic drugs. When farmers feed antibiotics to animals--often to help them grow more quickly--bacteria form that are resistant to the drug's effects. These resistant bacteria are transferred to people upon eating this antibiotic-laden meat, among other ways. And when people get sick, similar human antibiotics are less and less effective.

According to the Animal Health Institute, farmers used nearly 22 million pounds of antibiotics to raise food animals in 2001. By some research estimates, a troubling 50% of that total was used for growth promotion. As the nation's largest buyer of beef and among the top purchasers of pork and chicken, McDonald's policy is likely to have a major impact on overuse of important antibiotics and may catalyze industry-wide change.

COPYRIGHT 2003 The Townsend Letter Group
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group