On September 21, 2015 Subway, a healthier fast food option near and dear to many American's sandwich loving hearts, announced something big that truly devastated millions: they announced that starting in 2016 all of their meat would be raised without antibiotics. This process starts with their chicken and turkey products and will continue within the next 10 years to include all their meat products. To some uneducated consumers this may seem like a great move for Subway, especially since it follows their most recent scandal with their poster child. However, to someone who understand animal agriculture and food science, this is truly a step backwards for American livestock production.
Let's start by saying that no meat that you will ever eat in your life will have antibiotic residues in it. It is actually illegal. All animals who are administered any medication whatsoever must go through a withdrawal time. A withdrawal time is the time between when the animal was given the medicines to when the medicine is completely out of their system. If a producer takes an animal to market before a withdrawal time is complete, he gets into BIG trouble. Antibiotic use in animals is HIGHLY regulated. No antibiotic will end up mixed in with your meat on your plate guaranteed. So yes technically ALL meat is free of antibiotics, however not all ANIMALS are raised with antibiotics, which is where marketing ploys come in.
Animals get sick, just like humans get sick. Just like when humans get sick, animals go to the doctor, and the doctor prescribes the animal an antibiotic. The producer does not just wake up and decide to go to the farm store, buy some antibiotics, and start feeding it to his herd. He HAS to go through his veterinarian to get a prescription for the antibiotic. A veterinarian or a producer do not want to see an animal suffer or be in pain from an illness, just like a doctor or parent does not want to see a child suffer or be in pain from an illness. Therefore, a veterinarian will prescribe a specific antibiotic with a specific dosage that the producer will follow to help heal his animals. This is exactly how doctors prescribe antibiotics to their patients. Now, antibiotics are not cheap by any means. It would not be economically beneficial to a producer to feed his animals an antibiotic everyday just because he can. He would simply loose too much money by doing so. Antibiotics HELP animals, just like they do in humans. Wouldn't you give your child antibiotics is he or she was sick?
Why did Subway decide to make such a drastic change in their day to day operations? Basically for two reasons. One, they were in desperate need for good PR after their most recent scandal. Two, they were bullied by a not-so-lovely lady called Food Babe. For those who don't know, Food Babe is a food blogger, with no science background, who likes to attack companies, restaurants, brands, etc. with her pseudoscience. How do we know it's bad science? Well most of the references of her blog posts are her older blog posts, not universities or other scientific institutions that spend millions of dollars researching food. She lives off of fear and power, and enjoys attacking companies with her false information. In Subway's case, she made a petition on her website so her "Food Babe Army" would electronically sign it to bully Subway into becoming antibiotic free. Now, choice for consumers is a good thing, but any kindergartner will tell you bullying is bad. Food Babe blatantly bullies companies into believing her ideologies, and this is a prime example of that technique. Who would you rather believe: an egotistical lady with no science background, or years of research spent ensuring the safety of all food on the market?
Let's start by saying that no meat that you will ever eat in your life will have antibiotic residues in it. It is actually illegal. All animals who are administered any medication whatsoever must go through a withdrawal time. A withdrawal time is the time between when the animal was given the medicines to when the medicine is completely out of their system. If a producer takes an animal to market before a withdrawal time is complete, he gets into BIG trouble. Antibiotic use in animals is HIGHLY regulated. No antibiotic will end up mixed in with your meat on your plate guaranteed. So yes technically ALL meat is free of antibiotics, however not all ANIMALS are raised with antibiotics, which is where marketing ploys come in.
Animals get sick, just like humans get sick. Just like when humans get sick, animals go to the doctor, and the doctor prescribes the animal an antibiotic. The producer does not just wake up and decide to go to the farm store, buy some antibiotics, and start feeding it to his herd. He HAS to go through his veterinarian to get a prescription for the antibiotic. A veterinarian or a producer do not want to see an animal suffer or be in pain from an illness, just like a doctor or parent does not want to see a child suffer or be in pain from an illness. Therefore, a veterinarian will prescribe a specific antibiotic with a specific dosage that the producer will follow to help heal his animals. This is exactly how doctors prescribe antibiotics to their patients. Now, antibiotics are not cheap by any means. It would not be economically beneficial to a producer to feed his animals an antibiotic everyday just because he can. He would simply loose too much money by doing so. Antibiotics HELP animals, just like they do in humans. Wouldn't you give your child antibiotics is he or she was sick?
Why did Subway decide to make such a drastic change in their day to day operations? Basically for two reasons. One, they were in desperate need for good PR after their most recent scandal. Two, they were bullied by a not-so-lovely lady called Food Babe. For those who don't know, Food Babe is a food blogger, with no science background, who likes to attack companies, restaurants, brands, etc. with her pseudoscience. How do we know it's bad science? Well most of the references of her blog posts are her older blog posts, not universities or other scientific institutions that spend millions of dollars researching food. She lives off of fear and power, and enjoys attacking companies with her false information. In Subway's case, she made a petition on her website so her "Food Babe Army" would electronically sign it to bully Subway into becoming antibiotic free. Now, choice for consumers is a good thing, but any kindergartner will tell you bullying is bad. Food Babe blatantly bullies companies into believing her ideologies, and this is a prime example of that technique. Who would you rather believe: an egotistical lady with no science background, or years of research spent ensuring the safety of all food on the market?