Tyson Foods Inc. plans to adopt a new standard governing antibiotics use in poultry that is aimed at schools, hospitals and other institutions.
The standard, developed by School Food FOCUS and Pew Charitable Trusts, limits antibiotic use on poultry farms to cases where it is needed to control and treat disease, which will help reduce the drugs' overall use and potentially slow development of dangerous bacteria that can resist antibiotics, the groups said.
The Springdale, Ark., meatpacker's move to certify one of its chicken plants under the new standard comes as Tyson works toward a similar goal for its overall poultry operations. Tyson, the largest U.S. meat processor by sales, last month announced plans to largely eliminate by September 2017 all antibiotics used to treat illness in humans from the company's chicken supply, though some human-use drugs may still be used to treat animals that get sick.
"We believe this is a responsible, balanced approach to address the issue of antibiotic resistance and yet maintain the health of the animals," said Christine Daugherty, Tyson's vice president of animal well-being programs and technology, at a news conference in Washington on Thursday.
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