KFC announced last Friday that they will stop serving chickens raised with human antibiotics.
KFC promised to serve chickens that do not contain any potentially dangerous antibiotics by the end of 2018 with its more than 4,000 branches in the United States. The fried chicken chain will join other fast food companies to make food supply changes.
This step creates awareness to the public and to stop U.S. chicken industry in overusing the life-saving medicines, according to Matt Wellington, a spokesperson for the activist agency Public Interest Research Group.
Antibiotics were used on non-organic livestock for the past years for chickens to survive, grow faster, and prevent illness in crowded, stressful, and unsanitary conditions. However, this practice becomes a public health issue. Health researchers are worried about the harmful effects of antibiotics to humans.
When a person became over-exposed to antibiotics in meat, there is a possibility that they will be resistant to the particular antibiotics. The treatment for bacterial infections will be hard if that happens because it extends the time period of the patient being ill. The condition will be fatal, and could eventually lead to death.
KFC is one of the largest buyers of chicken in the U.S. and the company is working with almost 2,000 farms. Its new commitment to buy only antibiotic-free chicken may be a way in encouraging the farmers nationwide to stop using antibiotics.
Aside from KFC, Subway and Taco Bell also stops serving chicken raised with human antibiotics in 2016, and the Chick-fil-A in 2014. The Panera Bread (PNRA) and Chipotle (CMG), on the other hand, made a long-standing commitment on not to serve chickens with potentially harmful antibiotics.
Meanwhile, McDonald's is also serving 100 percent antibiotic-free chicken, yet, there is no confirmation if they are doing the same thing for its beef and pork.