Sandwich restaurant Subway announced that they will soon stop using antibiotics in their meat supply, as other food chain companies also begin to transition to antibiotic-free meat. Subway said that their plan will completely take effect in all of their 27,000 branches in the United States by 2025.
American consumers have become concerned about drug-resistant bacteria. Recently, studies found that the use of antibiotics in meat actually result to the growth of "superbugs" or organisms in the meat that become immune to the drugs that should have killed them. This discovery is a hazard to the health of consumers.
Subway said that their transition will address the changes that consumers are looking for, and it will happen in three phases.
The first phase is the transition to use chicken without antibiotics in all the branches beginning March 2016. The second phase is the transition to use turkey without antibiotics, which will probably be completed within two to three years, while the third phase is the transition to using pork and beef without antibiotics which will be completed by 2025.
"A change like this will take some time, particularly since the supply of beef raised without antibiotics in the U.S. is extremely limited and cattle take significantly longer to raise," said Subway's Independent Purchasing Cooperative executive vice president Dennis Clabby. He added that the company is working diligently with suppliers to successfully accomplish the plan.
Food chain companies such as McDonald's, Chipotle, Panera, and Chick-fil-A, as well as chicken producer Tyson Foods, have all announced before that they will pursue antibiotic-free meat in their products. Chipotle and Panera both have a long history of restricting antibiotics in their meat supply.
Food chain companies also said that finding enough supply of livestock raised without antibiotics in the U.S. has been a challenge.
Subway has had a poor history with antibiotic use in their products. In a recent study released by consumer and environmental organizations such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, Friends of the Earth, the Consumers Union, Keep Antibiotics Working, the Food Animal Concerns Trust, and the Center for Food Safety, Subway was critiqued regarding their transparency in using antibiotics in their products and reportedly acquired a grade of "F" along with other brands.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that more than 2 million Americans get infections that are resistant to antibiotics, and that over 23,000 people die because of it.
Photo: Hajime NAKANO | Flickr
