030619 Demand Led McDonald's to Cut Antibiotics

San Francisco, CA - McDonald's decision to sharply curtail the use of meat raised with antibiotics is a direct result of growing consumer awareness of food hazards and demand for meat that is safely produced and more humanely raised, according to researchers, activists and even some major food companies.

McDonald's new policy cited concerns that feeding antibiotics to animals to speed their growth has led to dangerous antibiotic resistance among humans. But the move also reflects an increased demand by consumers for food they believe is safer to eat.

"A lot of people are most concerned about the antibiotic food supply," said Bob Scowcroft, executive director of the Organic Farming Research Foundation. "But in general, the more people learn about how their food is produced, the faster they move to an organically labeled product."

The inner workings and occasional problems of meat production have been highly publicized recently -- from mad cow disease and e-coli infections to the grim life of feedlot cattle described in the best-selling book, "Fast Food Nation."

A survey released last month by specialty food retailer Whole Foods showed that fully 74 percent of consumers are concerned about the presence of antibiotics in meat production, yet "natural" meat -- raised with no antibiotics -- accounts for only one percent of market share.

Many suppliers see this as a growth opportunity. And in fact, the number of certified organic beef and milk cows, pigs and sheep have increased threefold since 1997, and the number of organic chickens and turkeys have increased more than fivefold, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"There's been a huge jump in organic livestock in the last several years," said Catherine Greene, who co-authored the USDA report. "And conventional grocery stores are more interested and have better infrastructure for carrying organic and natural meat."

Indeed, since 2000, more organic food has been purchased in conventional stores than in health food stores -- and 73 percent of all grocery stores now carry organic products, according to the Food Marketing Institute.

"We supply what our customers demand," said Alexander Winslow, a spokesman for Safeway, which now sells its own brand of antibiotic-free milk, along with similar products from organic dairies. "There does seem to be a healthy demand for natural foods, and we've been working to respond to that."

While McDonald's new standard for its meat is far from organic, company executives have said they hope it will herald an overall change in the way large factory farmers raise their animals. Besides speeding growth, antibiotic-laced feed is also used to ward off illnesses that can move quickly through animals' crowded and often filthy feedlots.

"You need to let them move around a little more, and have a little more time to grow," said Theo Weening, mid-Atlantic meat coordinator for Whole Foods Market, which sells only "natural" and "organic" meat at its 144 stores around the country. "The only way to produce a good piece of meat is to raise it humanely."

Still, some representatives of the meat industry cast the McDonald's decision as a solution in search of a problem.

"To paint antibiotics as bad and dangerous is an incredibly simplistic way of looking at the issues," said Dan Murphy, a spokesman for the American Meat Institute.

"McDonald's made its decision based on marketing and political reasons, and we think that's entirely appropriate," Murphy conceded. "But do antibiotics pose a danger in the treatment of human diseases? We're confident that science says that's not the case."

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