WASHINGTON — A new report ranks America’s top chain restaurants on their use of antibiotics in the meat and poultry they serve, and the news is by and large not good.
Only two companies — Panera and Chipotle — of 25 received an A grade on the score card, issued by several public-interest groups; Chick-fil-A got a B. Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonalds got Cs; the rest, Fs, CBS News reports.
Panera and Chipotle do not use antibiotics in their meat and poultry, according to the study.
Chick-fil-A is on the way, limiting antibiotics in its chicken now and pledging to be antibiotic-free by 2019.
Dunkin’ Donuts has a policy to limit the use on antibiotics, but no timeline, while McDonald’s has announced that its chicken will be antibiotic-free within two years, but hasn’t said how far along it is toward that and hasn’t extended the policy to beef and pork.
The other companies on the list either have no policies to reduce antibiotic use or haven’t announced any.
The overuse of antibiotics has resulted in a lack of their effectiveness: A host of “superbug” infections that are resistant to antibiotics have developed in recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that 37,000 people could die of such infections in the next five years, CNN reports.
“A post-antibiotic era — in which common infections and minor injuries can kill — far from being an apocalyptic fantasy, is instead a very real possibility for the 21st century,” the World health Organization says.
“The worsening epidemic of resistance means that antibiotics may not work when we need them most: when our kids contract a staph infection (MRSA), or our parents get a life-threatening pneumonia,” the report says.
The report, issued by Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, Consumers Union, Food Animal Concerns Trust, Keep Antibiotics Working and the Center for Food Safety, can be found here.
