No, McDonald's is not removing all antibiotics from its chicken

(NaturalNews) Fast food giant McDonald's has announced that the company will be phasing out the use of some antibiotics in its factory-farmed chicken products to accommodate what it says are the "changing preferences" of its customers. But a major disparity between the media's version of what McDonald's is doing and what the company is actually doing is causing all sorts of confusion among consumers.

The issue lies in the verbiage concerning McDonald's new antibiotics policy, which contrary to what is being claimed by some does not mean that Chicken McNuggets, Chicken Select Tenders, and other McDonald's chicken products will suddenly be antibiotic-free. To the contrary, the company is merely asking its chicken meat suppliers to phase out dual-use antibiotics that are also used in human medicine.

A recent press release issued by McDonald's repeatedly states that the company will be sourcing chicken raised without antibiotics that are important to human medicine. Those deemed not important to human medicine will continue to be used in McDonald's chicken products, exposing customers to pharmaceutical drugs for which they do not have a prescription.

Some are calling it "greenwashing" by McDonald's -- a public relations stunt to make it seem as though the most popular fast food chain in the world is suddenly concerned about the well-being of the animals from which it sources its meat. But don't be fooled. McDonald's chicken won't be much better after the implementation of the company's new "menu sourcing initiatives" than it was before their implementation.

McDonald's chicken meat will still contain antibiotics, and some of its milk products will still contain rBST

McDonald's claims that it's been working for years to reduce the use of antibiotics in its poultry supply to fulfill what it now calls its "Global Vision for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Food Animals." But the Big Mac chain has been promising this since 2003 when it first announced that it would "ask its meat suppliers to stop using antibiotics to promote growth."

You can read the announcement, as archived by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), here:
www.organicconsumers.org

More than a decade later and McDonald's is still feeding children Chicken McNuggets made from pink slime and growth-accelerating antibiotics, which have contributed significantly to the rise of antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" in hospitals. So who's to say that things will be any different this time around, especially since McDonald's is still just asking, rather than requiring, its suppliers to provide drug-free poultry meat?

According to the company's most recent announcement, the chickens from which it supplies its poultry meat will still be treated with ionophores, a type of antibiotic that isn't used to treat humans but that is still fed to healthy chickens to make them fatter and increase their feed efficiency. In other words, not much is changing over at the Ronald McDonald corporation.

In another deceptive move, McDonald's plans to offer two milk products, jugs of low-fat white milk and fat-free chocolate milk, made from cows not treated with the Monsanto-developed artificial growth hormone rBST. But what the company has not explicitly made clear is the fact that its other milk-based products, including the so-called "McFlurry" frozen dessert and McDonald's shakes, will presumably still be made from milk from cows treated with rBST.

Concerning its beef, McDonald's has gone public with its membership in the newly formed "U.S. Roundtable on Sustainable Beef," which it says supports its efforts to source "verified sustainable beef."

Sources:

www.organicconsumers.org

http://www.wsj.com