KFC, the world's largest chain of fried chicken restaurants, may face pressure from consumer and environmental groups to change how its poultry are raised after McDonald's Corp said it would switch to chicken raised without human antibiotics.
McDonald's will
phase out chicken raised with antibiotics that are important to human health
over two years to allay concern that use of the drugs in meat production has
exacerbated the rise of deadly "superbugs" that resist treatment,
Reuters reported last week. Within days, retailer Costco Wholesale Corp told
Reuters it aims to eliminate the sale of chicken and meat raised with human
antibiotics.
KFC is owned by Louisville,
Kentucky-based Yum Brands Inc, which has no publicly stated policy on
antibiotic use in the production of meat it buys. Chick-fil-A, another chicken
restaurant chain that competes with KFC, says about 20 percent of the chicken
it serves is raised without any antibiotics, and that its entire supply chain
will be converted by 2019.
Both McDonald's and Yum are
stepping up efforts to win back younger and wealthier diners lured away by
chains such as such as Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc and Panera Bread Co, which
boast antibiotic-free meats and other high-quality ingredients. Yum's KFC
restaurants in China two years ago suffered a massive sales hit following local
media reports that a few poultry farmers supplying KFC fed excessive levels of
antibiotics to their chickens.
"The
train has left the station," Bob Goldin, a food services company consultant
at Technomic in Chicago, said of McDonald's influence on U.S. chicken
production standards.
Yum, which also owns the Taco
Bell and Pizza Hut chains, declined to discuss its standards for antibiotic use
in meat production.
"The chicken served in
our U.S. restaurants is USDA high quality, and free of antibiotics," the
company said in an emailed response to Reuters queries.
The antibiotic-free statement
refers to a lack of residue in the meat served at its restaurants and not the
practice of delivering antibiotics to chickens before they are slaughtered,
said Steven Roach, food safety program director at Food Animal Concerns Trust
in Chicago.
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture has three classifications for poultry, A, B, and C, and doesn't
have a "high quality" designation for chicken. Poultry rated A is
what's typically found at retail, while poultry rated B or C is usually used in
further-processed products where the meat is cut up, chopped, or ground,
according to a USDA website.
NOT
PART OF THE CONVERSATION
McDonald's told Reuters it
worked with a wide range of stakeholders, including environmental group Friends
of the Earth, to develop its U.S. chicken guidelines. Yum and its brands have
ignored requests for information regarding its antibiotic policy, said Kari
Hamerschlag, senior program manager for Friends of the Earth's food and
technology program.
"They have so far not
answered any of our emails or phone calls," said Hamerschlag, who is
working with other advocacy groups to persuade food companies to change their
supplier standards to exclude animals raised with the routine use of
antibiotics. By contrast, McDonald's was "very responsive" to the
groups' requests, she said.
Other groups working with
Friends of the Earth to cut antibiotics from chickens and other meats include
the Natural Resources Defense Council, Consumers Union and the Center for Food
Safety. Friends of the Earth said its interest in antibiotics has to do with
animal agriculture's connection to the environment and human health.
KFC supplier Tyson Foods Inc
did not comment. Other U.S. chicken producers that have supplied Yum either
declined to comment or could not be reached. It’s not known who KFC’s
biggest supplier is or how many chickens KFC buys a year.
In 2012, Chinese media reports
about excessive antibiotic use by a few KFC chicken farmers hammered sales
there. The country has more than 4,800 KFC restaurants and accounted for nearly
half of Yum's 2014 operating profit. In response, Yum dropped some 1,000 small
poultry farmers from its supply chain and launched a public relations campaign
to reassure diners about the quality and safety of its
food.
Yum operates separate supply
chains in China and United States. While antibiotics have made for big headlines
in China, the issue also has surfaced at home.
A Reuters investigation last
year found that KFC supplier Koch Foods Inc from November 2011 to July 2014 had
given some of its flocks antibiotics critical to fighting human infections,
even though its website stated otherwise.
The Chicago-based chicken
producer changed the language on its website after questions from Reuters about
its use of virginiamycin, an antibiotic included in a class considered
"highly important" to fighting infections in humans. At the time,
Koch said it has no plans to discontinue the use of virginiamycin, which it
says may be used to prevent a common intestinal infection in chicken.
Koch did not respond to
interview requests for this story.
KFC US said at the time that
its "supply partners must adhere to our strict standards and
specifications, which in some cases are more stringent than the FDA's
regulations." It declined to comment this week.
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