Source: USDAWhile we know that 80 percent of antibiotics sold every year are given to livestock and poultry, a lot of uncertainty still exists regarding antibiotic use in food animal production. As the government remains of little help in divulging specifics, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-Ny) is trying to go another route by appealing to industry itself.
Last Thursday, Rep. Slaughter sent a letter to 60 of the top companies in the food industry – including fast food restaurants, meat producers and grocery store chains (i.e. Burger King, Chipotle, Perdue, Cargill, Kroger, Costco, Whole Foods, etc.) – asking them to reveal their policies on drug use in animal agriculture.
From her press release:
In addition to asking for company policy, Slaughter asked the restaurants to provide a breakdown of the percentages of beef, pork and poultry which they serve raised "without any antibiotics," raised with antibiotics only for "therapeutic reasons," or raised with "routine use of antibiotics."
"Very simply, consumers have a right to know what's in their food," said Slaughter. "It's like that old commercial, 'where's the beef?' We just want to know, 'what's in the beef?' The US is facing a growing public health crisis in the form of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and information about how these companies are contributing to its rise or resolution should be available to consumers."
With more and more outbreaks caused by antibiotic-resistant (ABR) bacteria, consumers deserve to know whether their food was produced with animals raised on antibiotics and in what capacity – especially since ABR strains make foodborne illness (including urinary tract infections caused by E.coli-tainted chicken) more difficult to treat.
As Food Safety News reports, 2011 had the highest number on record of ABR Salmonella outbreaks tied to meat and poultry (including Cargill's tainted turkey), leading to GAP's sign-on to a coalition letter calling on USDA to prevent the sale of meat and poultry products contaminated with these ABR strains.
Increased transparency is a must, even if preventive actions remain lacking. While the FDA made a historic move last month to limit the use of one class of antibiotics in livestock and poultry, the government has yet to regulate drugs that are used on a much larger scale in food-producing animals. The U.S. is behind the European Union, and seemingly even China, on this issue.
Hopefully the food companies won't dodge Rep. Slaughter's request for more information, and give Americans some insight on industry practices. And kudos to Rep. Slaughter – the congresswoman has been fighting for legislation that would prevent agricultural overuse of significant antibiotics used to treat humans since 2007. It's time someone listened … but the least companies should do is disclose how they are raising the source of our food supply.
Sarah Damian is New Media Associate for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.
