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McDonald's to Serve Chickens Free of Human Antibiotics in U.S. Locations

By Cynthia Dea
March 4, 2015
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Photo:uravms/Flickr/Creative Commons License

 

McDonald's announced today that it will begin to serve chicken free of human antibiotics in its U.S. locations. The new policy will be implemented within the next two years. The company will also start to serve milk from cows that aren't treated with the artificial growth hormone rbST later this year.

However, the chickens can still be treated with a type of antibiotic called ionophores that aren't used in humans.

In the statement, McDonald's U.S. President said, "Our customers want food that they feel great about eating -- all the way from the farm to the restaurant -- and these moves take a step toward better delivering on those expectations."

This is good news for consumers, but is this just McDonald's tactic to get Millennials through its doors? The restaurant chain has been struggling to attract 18- to 31-year olds, who are spending their money on fast casual chains like Chipotle instead.

McDonald's image has been suffering for a while now, which lead the company to replace its chief branding officer earlier this year. It certainly didn't help with circulating rumors that its nuggets are made of pink slime and Chipotle founder Steve Ells describing a McDonald's chicken farm in Arkansas as "absolutely the most disgusting thing he'd ever seen in his life."

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) earlier this week introduced the Prevention of Antibiotic Resistance Act, a bill to require the Food and Drug Administration to withdraw its approval of medically-important antibiotics used for disease prevention or control that are at high risk of abuse, unless the producer of the drug can demonstrate that its use in agriculture does not pose a risk to human health.

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