Perdue Reduces Antibiotic Use in Poultry Production
Perdue Foods, Salisbury, Md., removed all antibiotics from its chicken hatcheries, setting a standard that defines the responsible use of antibiotics in poultry production and exceeding the Federal Drug Administration’s (FDA) voluntary guidelines for antibiotic use in food animals, as well as the standards of the USDA Organic certification program. Perdue does not use antibiotics for growth promotion in its chicken production, and has not since 2007. It does however use an animal-only antibiotic to control an intestinal parasite, and will use antibiotics to treat and control illness in sick flocks.
“By no longer using any antibiotics in our hatcheries or any human antibiotics in feed, we’ve reached the point where 95% of our chickens never receive any human antibiotics, and the remainder receives them only for a few days when prescribed by a veterinarian,” says Dr. Bruce Stewart-Brown, senior vice president of food safety, quality and live operations.