Investment groups across the U.S. and U.K. are encouraging restaurants to stop adding antibiotics to their meat

Saturday, April 23, 2016 by: Daniel Barker
Tags: restaurants, antibiotics, organics

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(NaturalNews) A coalition of powerful investment firms who manage a combined $1 trillion in assets has sent letters to top restaurant chains in the U.S. and U.K. urging them to stop using antibiotics in their poultry and meat.

As reported by Healthline:

"The Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return (FAIRR), an initiative of Coller Capital that combines 53 other investment groups, announced this week they've sent letters to some of the biggest restaurant chains in the U.S. and the U.K.

"The chains include McDonald's, Wendy's, Domino's, Chili's, Olive Garden, Burger King, Tim Hortons, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, among others.

"Jeremy Coller, founder of the FAIRR Initiative and chief investment officer of Coller Capital, said these large food companies are 'key ingredients' in the portfolios of most of their pensions and savings. He said asking how these companies plan to meet the challenge of reducing antibiotic use is a matter of proper risk management."

These investors are savvy enough to anticipate the future, unlike the many major restaurant chains that still source from suppliers who use antibiotics in the raising of animals for meat to be consumed by humans.

"The world is changing, regulation on antibiotic use is set to tighten, and consumer preferences are shifting away from factory farmed food," Coller said. "As stewards of these food companies and responsible investors, we want to protect both human health and shareholder value."

The threat to human health

Not only are consumers beginning to shun "factory farmed" meat for a number of reasons, but experts are also concerned about the increase in antibiotic-resistant infections in humans, due to the overuse of "critically important" antibiotics in the meat-raising industry.

Meat producers routinely use antibiotics on animals raised for meat, not only for treating sickness, but also to prevent disease – a practice that has dangerous implications for humans.

From The Guardian:

"Experts believe the drugs' use in farm animals is linked, via the food chain, to the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections in humans. The [U.K.] chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, has described an 'apocalyptic scenario' in which people going for routine operations die because antibiotics are no longer effective at stopping infections.

"Meanwhile the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that antibiotic use in livestock production is contributing to the global threat of a 'post-antibiotic era.'"

The "post-antibiotic era" seems to be rapidly approaching. For example, the most common form of food poisoning in the U.K. is caused by a bacteria called campylobacter. Scientists have found an increase in a strain of campylobacter that is resistant to the main antibiotic used to treat it:

"Of the 17,332 human campylobacter cases tested in 2015 for resistance to ciprofloxacin, 48% had some degree of resistance to the drug. In 2005, this figure was 30%."

Despite the well-documented risks of overusing antibiotics in meat production, the practice is still widespread throughout the world.

As the investors pointed out in their letter to restaurant chains, around 80 percent of all antibiotics used in the U.S. are administered to farm animals. In the U.K., the figure is around 45 percent.

It is criminally absurd that the big restaurant chains seem to be the last to acknowledge this serious threat to human health, while consumers and investors have already taken notice.

Maybe the threat of losing investors' confidence will finally force the industry to clean up its act.

After all, money talks – even when the health of the populace is deliberately being ignored.

Go organic!

Meanwhile, consumers can also send a powerful message by not buying or consuming factory farmed meat. Free-range, organically-raised meat might cost a bit more, but its flavor and nutritional value is far superior to the sickly, antibiotic-laced garbage that the big suppliers continue to provide.

When all the factors are considered – food safety, nutritional value and the issue of cruelty to animals raised in this manner – organic is clearly the only way to go.

Sources:

HealthLine.com

TheGuardian.com

UncommonWisdomDaily.com

Science.NaturalNews.com