News

"Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) this week released the results a survey conducted by her office on antibiotics used in meat and poultry production. In February, the congresswoman wrote to 60 of the nation's largest food manufacturers, restaurants, and retailers and asked them to respond with details on their policies, including what percentage of the meat they sell is raised "without any antibiotics," raised with antibiotics only for "therapeutic reasons," or raised with "routine use of antibiotics." Rep. Slaughter's office said the survey results showed that "while a small number of industry leaders provide antibiotic-free meat and poultry products, an overwhelming majority of food production companies routinely feed low-doses of antibiotics to healthy food-animals." Niche natural and organic-focused companies like Whole Foods, Chipotle, Niman Ranch and Applegate Farms are doing business with meat only sourced from animals not fed or treated with antibiotics, but few others surveyed are, according to the results. Slaughter's office also gave these, and a few other companies, high marks for transparency in revealing their purchasing policies. The congresswoman's office provided a 74-page document detailing responses from dozens of food companies -- many of which cited the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new guidance document and the agency's drug approval process as key safeguards."