McDonald’s moves away from antibiotics in chicken

McDonald's said yesterday that it is broadening its move away from serving chicken fed with certain antibiotics.

According to the fast food chain, it will stop buying chicken raised in other countries that has been treated with antibiotics also used by humans and deemed important to fighting serious infection.

The company announced a similar policy for its US suppliers, two years ago.

Antibiotics in chicken feed have been linked to the surge in resistant strains of bacteria that cause serious human illnesses. The strain has been blamed for about 23,000 deaths annually and $20 billion in healthcare costs, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Under its latest initiative, McDonalds will stop purchasing poultry treated with a small number of antibiotics that the World Health Organization has said are often the only drugs available to fight serious infections in humans.

McDonald's added that it looked to expand the policy over the next decade to include other drugs and other animal products, including beef and pork.

According to the company, the transition would start next year, with chicken purchased in Brazil, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Europe. It will be expanded the following year to Australia and Russia, the company said.

The move has been welcomed by public health and consumer groups. The move is not as strict as the company's policy for the US, where suppliers have provided the chain with chickens raised without antibiotics deemed important to human health, for a year.

In January 2018, highest priority critically important antimicrobials, (HPCIA)s will be eliminated from McDonald's chickens in Brazil, Canada, Japan, South Korea, the US and Europe.

The company will, however, make an exception in Europe for Colistin, a last resort antibiotic.

The end of 2019, will see Australia and Russia  stop using HPCIAs and European suppliers plan to remove Colistin.