KFC To Eliminate Use of Medically Important Antibiotics from Chicken Supply

[Editor]

The growing ranks of global health experts who have been alarmed by the rise in antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" have an unlikely new hero: KFC, the fried chicken giant.

Today, KFC U.S. announced that by the end of 2018, all chicken purchased by the company will be raised without antibiotics important to human medicine. A coalition of consumer and public health groups, including Maryland PIRG (Public Interest Research Group), had urged the company to act on the issue.

"This announcement is a win for anybody who might someday depend on antibiotics to get well or even save their lives – it is a win for everybody," said Maryland PIRG Director Emily Scarr. "It's also a welcome step by KFC.The company's newfound commitment on antibiotics should have lasting effects on the way these life-saving medicines are used in the chicken industry."

KFC is among the largest buyers of chicken in the United States. Estimates suggest the company's newfound commitment could lead to a majority of the U.S. chicken industry no longer raising chicken with the routine use of medically important antibiotics. That would signal a major shift in prioritizing antibiotic stewardship in chicken production, which will help to preserve these life-saving medicines for the future.

Although federal action on antibiotic overuse on farms has been slow, some states are beginning to take action and consumer demand is driving the marketplace away from routine antibiotic use. Maryland is expected to become the second state to restrict antibiotic use on farms by the end of the legislative session on Monday. The Keep Antibiotics Effective Act of 2017, sponsored by Sen. Paul Pinsky and Sen. Nathan-Pulliam (Senate Bill 422) and Del. Shane Robinson (House Bill 602) would allow the use of antibiotics in farm animals that are sick, having a medical procedure, or for disease control, but prevents the routine, low dose usage. Low dose use is most likely to breed resistance. After final votes in Annapolis, the bill will go to Governor Hogan for his approval.

The Maryland House and Senate have both passed a bill to restrict the use of human antibiotics on animals that aren't sick. The Keep Antibiotics Effective Act of 2017, sponsored by Sen. Paul Pinsky and Sen. Nathan-Pulliam (Senate Bill 422) and Del. Shane Robinson (House Bill 602) would allow the use of antibiotics in farm animals that are sick, having a medical procedure, or for disease control, but prevents the routine, low dose usage. Low dose use is most likely to breed resistance. After final votes in Annapolis, the bill will go to Governor Hogan for his approval.

California was the first state to take action and Oregon is also considering a bill.

Industry leaders including Subway, Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, McDonald's and others have made various commitments to eliminate unnecessary antibiotic use from their supply chains. KFC's commitment is a significant addition to this progress because it could push the U.S. chicken industry over the threshold for better antibiotic stewardship.

Maryland PIRG and its partners—including Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Consumers Union, Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT), and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) —delivered a letter signed by more than eighty consumer, health, and environmental organizations to Yum! Brands, KFC's parent company, in January of 2016. The letter urged the restaurant company to phase out the routine use of medically important antibiotics in its meat supply chain.

Since then, the organizations have demonstrated widespread consumer support for KFC to make this move, including a delivery of 475,000 petition signatures to Yum! Brands Headquarters, nearly 5,000 consumer calls into KFC's customer service line, and hundreds of social media actions directed at KFC (using #KFCsaveABX). Maryland PIRG spent two summers knocking on doors to talk to Marylanders about the campaign, having conversation with more than 25,000 Marylanders and collecting nearly 10,000 petition signatures.

Approximately 70% of medically important antibiotics sold in the United States are for use on livestock and poultry. The drugs are often given routinely to animals that aren't sick to promote growth and prevent disease that can be common in crowded, unsanitary conditions. This overuse breeds antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which can spread to people through various pathways. The letter sent to Yum! Brands in January 2016 cited these health concerns as key reasons for the restaurant company to phase out routine antibiotic use in their supply chain.

"We recognize that KFC had to choose between business as usual with their chicken suppliers or demanding that they raise chickens in a manner that doesn't hasten the end of antibiotics," said Scarr "We sincerely thank the company for doing the right thing to protect these life-saving medicines for the future."

A shareholder resolution filed by the non-profit group As You Sow with KFC outlined the business risks involved in companies that are not keeping pace with growing consumer concern around antibiotic overuse. Other shareholder advocates, such as Green Century Capital Management, have secured antibiotics policies from Starbucks and Jack in the Box in the last several months.

For more info consult our website: http://marylandpirg.org/issues/mdp/stop-overuse-antibiotics-factory-farms-1

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Maryland PIRG is a consumer group that stands up to powerful interests whenever they threaten our health and safety, our financial security, or our right to fully participate in our democratic society. For decades, we've stood up for consumers, countering the influence of big banks, insurers, chemical manufacturers and other powerful special interests.

 

[vraiblonde]

I don't really understand this story. Are they saying that there is a finite amount of antibiotics in the world, and using them on chickens or other livestock wastes them so that humans can't have any?

I was unaware of that.

 

[Merlin99]

I don't really understand this story. Are they saying that there is a finite amount of antibiotics in the world, and using them on chickens or other livestock wastes them so that humans can't have any?

I was unaware of that.

No, it's saying that overusing them causes antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. A steady low dose is the easiest way to grow the resistance. This is how the MRSA strain came about.

 

[vraiblonde]

No, it's saying that overusing them causes antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. A steady low dose is the easiest way to grow the resistance. This is how the MRSA strain came about.

aHA! Thanks!

 

[Larry Gude]

No, it's saying that overusing them causes antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. A steady low dose is the easiest way to grow the resistance. This is how the MRSA strain came about.

That's part of it.

One, the antibiotics aren't being 'over-used'. They're used properly in context of recommended dosages and best practices. It's important to say this as 'overuse' suggests the farmers are doing something improper or perhaps illegal. Let's call it the 'routine' use because that's more accurate.

So, the routine use of certain antibiotics that are MEDICALLY important. So, that means antibiotics that are routinely used for humans. So, the chicken people use, say, a chicken farming version of amoxicillin (not saying they use that one because I don't know, just trying to illustrate the point) as a routine at whatever stage it best helps prevent their chickens from getting whatever it is they're having problems with. Call it some parasite (which is probably what they're trying to treat).

So, the routine use of it probably means that it DOES work on the target problem or the chicken people would stop using it. So, it then means that either low levels of the antibiotic (AB) are remaining in the chicken and you eat it all the time thus creating resistance in YOUR body to whatever AB it is as, if the AB is in you all the time, it could mean that if you get an infection of some kind, it is resistant to that AB when you go to the doc and they prescribe it when it otherwise wouldn't be resistant to that AB. OR it could mean that whatever pest the AB is meant to treat in the chickens is normally not a problem for humans and that our immune systems used to be stronger because we used to be able to resist many kinds of normal, routine pests that we're no longer exposed to because of the 'overuse' of AB's in the food supply chain. THAT is key, which WAY the resistance is expressing itself. In the end, it doesn't matter to a mom with a sick kid which WAY her child got sick but it IS interesting from a macro treatment standpoint because, keep in mind, the chicken people are NOT using the AB because it doesn't work. They're using it because it does.

Now, I can claim some familiarity here because the same sort of thing happens in agriculture, specifically ornamental ag, which I used to do. If you're aware of the enormous PR campaign to protect honey bees, that is a perfect analogy and it goes like this; over sue of a chemical, in this case, imidacloprid, is/was used to control aphids, thrips and a few other pests. If you put it on as per label, it worked great and had decayed enough by the time you shipped to garden centers that it no longer worked, meaning it was no longer a threat to the target pests but also incidental (collateral 'pests') like...honey bees. What happened was some folks would get in trouble with an infestation later in their crop cycle and they'd use it too late, overuse, incorrect, meaning it was still effective and strong once it hit the garden center and then collateral damage would happen, harm bees.

Now, THAT is interesting because, used properly, it would STOP being effective against the target pest in the greenhouse which was fine because thrip and aphids struggle in nature and tend to be a non problem naturally. They do much better in the controlled environment of a greenhouse where there are fewer natural predators. So, like the chickens, is the problem that WE used to be able to handle the pests and now our systems have gotten lazy and infections have developed resistance OR is it the presence of the AB itself?

 

[PsyOps]

All I know is I went to the KFC in Prince Frederick 3 different times, and each time they had no chicken.