"Restaurant report card grades on antibiotics in meat supply"
Restaurant report card grades on antibiotics in meat supply
By Ben Tinker, CNN
Updated 11:55 AM ET, Tue September 15, 2015
(CNN) A new report is sounding the alarm about the use of antibiotics in the meat and poultry supply chains of the 25 largest U.S. fast food and "fast casual" restaurants.
Most top U.S. restaurant chains have no publicly available policy to limit regular use of antibiotics in their meat and poultry supply chains, according to the "Chain Reaction" report by Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council and four other consumer interest, public health and environmental organizations. <<snip>>
How did your favorite food fare?
Each restaurant was graded on its antibiotics use policies, including the strength of the policy and whether it applies to all types of meat; its implementation of policies, including the estimated availability of meat produced without routine antibiotics; and transparency about its policies, including third-party audits, whether its policy was listed online and whether it responded to the survey. They authors reached out to restaurants in person, via email or via traditional mail. The total number of possible points was based on the restaurant's menu offerings.
Chipotle and Panera Bread fared best, with both receiving As. Those restaurants are the only two that report serving a majority of their meat from animals raised without regular use of antibiotics, the report said.
"While many people are just starting to pay attention to the issue, we have known for a long time that it is the right thing to do, and we are pleased to see others taking even small steps to curb antibiotic use in livestock," Chipotle said in response to the report.
Panera Bread responded, "More than a decade ago, we started serving chicken raised without antibiotics -- ahead of the industry. We're glad to see that others have followed and proud to have extended our commitment to all of the chicken, ham, bacon, sausage and roasted turkey on our salads and sandwiches."
Chick-fil-A received a grade of B, and responded to the rating by noting that it was "the first in the quick service restaurant industry to announce a commitment to 'No Antibiotics Ever' in its chicken supply back in 2014 ... Because of this stringent requirement and our desire to have third-party verification of our suppliers' processes, the switch will take some time."
Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's received Cs. Subway, Wendy's, Burger King, Denny's, Domino's and Starbucks all received Fs, but got at least one point.
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It seems that washing it down with you favorite adult beverage has merit.
You mean the over use of antibiotics isn't healthy?
Hummm...the article only speaks to restaurant policy. Is the FDA on the band wagon too?
I'm not sure "potential" is the right word, with the mutations creating MRSA, et al.
I like their whoppers though.
If you order it without tomatoes it's even better then a Big Mac (too salty). MacDonald's fries have gone downhill ever since they stopped throwing beef flavoring into the oil too.
Maybe the pesticide aftertaste was masked by the beef flavoring?
Actually I don't know what pesticides taste like, but McDonald's fries have no taste at all anymore. Not like potatoes. Not even like cardboard. Just like nothing.
Good old fashioned beef fat. If we can reach agreement about that, then who knows where it could lead to on other questions?
I could be wrong, but aren't both antibiotics and pesticides stored in animal fat cells?
Could be. Just so the beef fat makes the fries taste good, then that's good enough for me. Besides, the fat by itself is not any good for your health anyway.
I can say, "I was there, man".
There used to be a TV show in the 1950's called "You Are There".