Chicken free of antibiotics by 2018, McDonald’s says
Chain joins competitors in trend that will be as big as gluten-free, expert says
McDonald’s Canada is the latest fast-food chain to announce it plans to stop using chickens that are raised with antibiotics that are important to human medicine.
While offering healthier menu items is a hot trend as people aim for a so-called cleaner diet, McDonald’s move Monday follows a long line of competitors who have jumped on the antibiotic-free bandwagon — one as early as 16 years ago.
Chipotle Mexican Grill, the Denverbased fast-casual chain known for its made-to-order burritos and bowls, started offering some of its meat from animals raised without regular use of antibiotics in 1999.
“There’s no place for non-therapeutic antibiotics and synthetic hormones on the farms that produce our ingredients,” says Chipotle in its Food for Integrity pledge.
Chicken minus antibiotics means that the flock was raised without the use of products classified as antibiotics for animal health maintenance, disease prevention or treatment of disease.
“You’ll be seeing a lot more of this over the next two years. It will be as big as the gluten-free (trend) was a few years ago,” said Robert Carter, executive director of food service at research firm NPD Group.
Bakery-café Panera Bread followed Chipotle’s move with the chicken in its sandwiches and salads in 2004.
The two chains, which have since expanded to Canada, boast that they are the only major restaurants today who offer a majority of their meat and poultry from antibiotic-free animals.
But the fastfood giants are catching up.
McDonald’s Canada The McNugget maker says Monday’s announcement to nix antibiotics in all of its chicken items by the end of 2018 is the latest step in its journey to “evolve its menu to better meet the changing preferences and expectations of its guests.” Last month, McDonald’s Canada announced it would move to 100-per-cent Canadian cage-free eggs over the next 10 years. The chain of more than 1,400 Canadian restaurants said it will continue to serve chicken raised by farmers who responsibly use ionophores, a type of antibiotic not used for humans.
A&W The Vancouver-based chain, the secondlargest fast food hamburger chain in Canada after McDonald’s, has been promoting that it raises its beef without the use of hormones or steroids since 2013 in one of its most successful ad campaigns ever. They also say that their eggs come from hens that are fed a grain-based, vegetarian diet without animal by-products, and that their chicken strips and burgers are made without fillers. At the time, farmers had a beef with the fast-food giant’s “Better Beef” campaign, saying it was misleading since hormone use in cattle is actually minuscule.
Subway Just as word got out that the sandwich franchise’s former spokesman Jared Fogle was set to plead guilty to child pornography charges, Subway announced last week customers will be able to start buying chicken raised without antibiotics at its more than 27,000 U.S. fast-food restaurants starting in March. By 2018, it expects to shift all chicken and turkey supplies over to antibiotic-free meats. The company said that within six years after that, it will begin serving pork and beef only from animals raised without antibiotics. A company spokesman said it will expand to Canada but there is no timeline yet.
Pizza Nova The 50-year-old Ontario chain got the pizza world buzzing when it became the first Canadian pie maker to source pepperoni from animals that are Canadian-raised without the use of antibiotics or hormones, and are vegetable grain-fed. “We selected pepperoni to be the first in this category because it’s our most popular topping,” said Domenic Primucci, president of the Toronto-based company. “We’re also looking at how we can introduce other products across our menu that are made without the use of antibiotics or hormones.”