The fast-growing chicken chain recently announced that it was easing its rules to “maintain the supply of high-quality chicken you expect from us.”
The new standard will instead allow the company to use chickens that have been treated with antibiotics, although not those drugs “that are important to human medicine and commonly used to treat people.”
Resistance to antibiotics is an “urgent global public health threat,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says the threat results in 3 million infections and 48,000 deaths annually in the United States alone. Resistance happens when illness-causing bacteria and fungi become able to defeat medicines, creating dangerous “super bugs.”
In recent years, food companies have moved to limit the widespread use of antibiotics in livestock, including industry leader McDonald’s, which in 2015 announced that it would adhere to the same standard for chicken that Chick-fil-A will be moving to. But chicken that has never been exposed to antibiotics is getting more difficult to source. Last year, megaproducer Tyson dropped its “no antibiotics ever” labels and moved to the same, less-restrictive rule. Under the NAIHM (or “no antibiotics important to human medicine”) label, antibiotics may be used only to treat actual illnesses in animals rather than to promote growth in livestock, something producers have sometimes done to boost profits.
Other major fast-food chains, including Burger King and Popeye’s, adhere to the NAIHM rules as well.
Costs have caused others to reverse or loosen their policies on antibiotics. Panera Bread was an early adopter of restrictions, and in 2014 touted that it had been serving sandwiches with hormone-free chicken, roasted turkey, sausage and ham for a decade. But earlier this year, ahead of the company’s IPO, Reuters reported on internal documents that showed “stores across the U.S. were directed in late February to begin removing signs and artwork that include the phrases ‘No Antibiotics Ever,’ ‘Vegetarian Fed,’ ‘Grass Fed Pasture Raised,’ ‘Animal Welfare,’ or any mention of ‘Hormones.’”
In its announcement, Chick-fil-A said that while it is relaxing the rules on antibiotics, it is keeping other standards for the supply that will make up all those nuggets and crispy chicken sandwiches. “Because chicken is at the center of our menu, we serve only real, white breast meat with no added fillers, artificial preservatives, or steroids,” the company said. “Like other chicken in the United States, ours contains no added hormones.”
