Chicken gets new standard at McDonald’s

NEW YORK – McDonald’s says it plans to require chicken suppliers to stop using antibiotics important to human medicine within two years.

The company says its suppliers still will be able to use a type of antibiotic called ionophores that keeps chickens healthy and isn’t used in humans. Later this year, McDonald’s also said it will no longer serve milk from cows treated with a particular artificial growth hormone.

Many cattle, hog and poultry producers give their livestock antibiotics to make them grow faster and ensure they are healthy. The practice has become a public health issue, with officials saying it can lead to germs becoming resistant to drugs so that the drugs are no longer effective in treating a particular illness in humans.

Chipotle and Panera already say they serve chicken raised without antibiotics, but the announcement by McDonald’s is notable because of its size; the company has more than 14,000 U.S. locations. Chipotle has nearly 1,800 locations, while Panera has almost 1,900 locations.

“This really does move the ball quite a bit,” said Gail Hansen, a senior officer with the antibiotic resistance project with The Pew Charitable Trusts. Hansen said ionophores, the antibiotics that will be allowed by McDonald’s, are not considered medically important for humans.

Hansen noted the poultry industry already had been moving away from the use of antibiotics used in human medicine, which likely made the decision by McDonald’s easier.

McDonald’s noted that while suppliers still can use medically important antibiotics to treat sick animals, those animals would not be used in its food supply. Marion Gross, senior vice president of McDonald’s North America’s supply chain, said the change will cost the company more but noted the increase won’t necessarily be passed on to customers because several factors are used to determine restaurant prices.

The announcement comes as McDonald’s Corp. struggles to transform its image amid intensifying competition from smaller rivals positioning themselves as more wholesome alternatives.

The company long has battled negative perceptions about its food, but that has become a bigger vulnerability as more people shift toward options they believe are made with ingredients that are higher quality or meet standards on social responsibility.

Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said McDonald’s plan to sell milk produced without rBST was a good step because the artificial growth hormone can cause health problems in dairy cows.

After seeing customer visits to U.S. stores decline two years in a row, McDonald’s had recently hinted changes could be on the way. Franchisees were told of the upcoming chicken and milk announcement Tuesday at a “Turnaround Summit” in Las Vegas.