The
United States Public Interest Research Group is pressuring McDonald’s
restaurant chain to source its pork and beef from farms that use no
medically-important antibiotics.
McDonald’s
has gone antibiotic-free for chicken and PIRG says 14 of the 25 largest
restaurant chains have also done that for chicken.
PIRG
says McDonald’s has a vague long-term plan in place but “protecting antibiotics
requires action, not reaction.
“If
we don’t act now to preserve the effectiveness of these medicines, we’ll face a
world in which common infections once again kill,” said Matthew Wellington,
antibiotics program director, for PIRG’s Education Fund.
“The
Big Mac can make a big dent in stopping the misuse of antibiotics in our food
system,” he said.
U.S.
PIRG has started a nation-wide petition but so far has only 10,000 signatures.
Restaurants
such as Subway, Chipotle and Panera Bread, have made pushes to go
antibiotic-free with some or all of their menu items.
