McDonald's USA announced March 4 new menu sourcing initiatives including only sourcing chicken raised without antibiotics that are important to human medicine.

In addition, McDonald's U.S. restaurants will also offer customers milk jugs of low-fat white milk and fat-free chocolate milk from cows that are not treated with recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST), an artificial growth hormone.

"Our customers want food that they feel great about eating — all the way from the farm to the restaurant — and these moves take a step toward better delivering on those expectations," McDonald's U.S. president Mike Andres said.

McDonald's has been working closely with farmers for years to reduce the use of antibiotics in its poultry supply. This new policy supports the company's new "Global Vision for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Food Animals" introduced this week, which builds on the company's 2003 global antibiotics policy and includes supplier guidance on the thoughtful use of antibiotics in all food animals.

All of the chicken served at McDonald's approximately 14,000 U.S. restaurants comes from U.S. farms that are working closely with McDonald's to implement the new antibiotics policy to the supply chain within the next two years.

"McDonald's believes that any animals that become ill deserve appropriate veterinary care and our suppliers will continue to treat poultry with prescribed antibiotics, and then they will no longer be included in our food supply," said Marion Gross, senior vice president of McDonald's North America Supply Chain.

While McDonald's will only source chicken raised without antibiotics important to human medicine, the farmers who supply chicken for its menu will continue to responsibly use ionophores, a type of antibiotic not used for humans that helps keep chickens healthy.

"If fewer chickens get sick, then fewer chickens need to be treated with antibiotics that are important in human medicine. We believe this is an essential balance," Gross added.

In another move, McDonald's U.S. restaurants later this year will offer milk jugs of low-fat white milk and fat-free chocolate milk from cows that are not treated with rbST. The milk jugs are popular choices in Happy Meals.

"While no significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rbST-treated and non-rbST-treated cows, we understand this is something that is important to our customers," Gross said.

All of these actions are the latest steps in McDonald's USA's journey to evolve its menu to better meet the changing preferences and expectations of today's customers, the company said. In addition to the menu sourcing changes, McDonald's USA this week was announced as a founding member of the newly formed U.S. Roundtable on Sustainable Beef. This engagement is a critical step in support of the company's global commitment and effort to source verified sustainable beef.