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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

"Fantastic" Food Chains Serve Healthy Meat

Burger King, Wendy’s, Olive Garden, KFC, Chili’s, Sonic, Denny’s, Domino’s, Starbucks, Papa John’s Pizza, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Applebee’s, Jack in the Box, Arby’s, Dairy Queen, IHOP, Outback Steakhouse and Little Caesars are among the American food chains you can be sure are providing you meat that came from healthy animals, according to a new report released by Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Food Animal Concerns Trust, Keep Antibiotics Working, the Center for Food Safety and Consumers Union.

Of course, that's not how those, uh, "food" organizations are billing the findings in their report, which is critical of fast-food and casual restaurants that sell meat from animals that received antibiotics. Those groups, which oppose modern food-animal production, blame the use of antibiotics in cows, pigs and chickens for a rise in illnesses that are resistant to antibiotics.

The problem is there's no scientific evidence that animal agriculture is to blame for the increase in resistance. The environmental and anti-agriculture organizations, however, cite dubious "studies," including one from 1971, to back their claims. They did mention a CDC study on antibiotic resistance, but that 112-page report devoted just two pages to antibiotic use in animals and included this rather revealing nugget: "up to half of the antibiotic use in humans ... is unnecessary or inappropriate."

Farmers and their veterinarians use antibiotics strategically to keep their animals healthy and to produce safe food. They follow industry guidelines and FDA-approved label directions in administering animal health products.

But groups such as Friends of the Earth and the Natural Resources Defense Council don't let facts get in the way. In their report, they gave restaurants letter grades based on their commitments to go "antibiotic free." The ones listed at the top of this post received Fs. 

No doubt that stands for "Fantastic"!