Perdue Foods announced that it has removed all antibiotics from its chicken hatcheries, "another step in setting a standard that defines the responsible use of antibiotics in poultry production."  Perdue does not use antibiotics for growth promotion in its chicken production, and has not since 2007.  The company does 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 percent of our chickens never receive any human antibiotics, and the remainder receive them only for a few days when prescribed by a veterinarian,” said Dr. Bruce Stewart-Brown, Senior Vice President of Food Safety, Quality and Live Operations for Perdue Foods.

Eliminating use in the hatchery has taken five years to fully implement, and is the latest stage of a 12-year evolution in the company’s approach to antibiotic use. No antibiotics in the hatchery exceeds 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.

“This very limited use of antibiotics is more restrictive than the new FDA Guidelines announced last December. We have yet to read any proposed legislation that we are not compliant with, and in fact, have been since 2008,” said Stewart-Brown.

A 12-year journey

Perdue Foods started the move away from conventional antibiotic use in 2002, in response to growing consumer concern and our own questions about the practice. “We recognized that the public was concerned about the potential impact of the use of these drugs on their ability to effectively treat humans,” said Dr. Stewart-Brown. “We focused first on removing growth-promoting antibiotics.” In 2005, the company phased out the use of specific medically important antibiotics in its feeds, including floroquinolones, four years before the FDA banned the use of floroquinolones in animal agriculture.

 By 2007, the company had successfully removed all human antibiotics from its feed. That same year, Perdue Foods launched the Harvestland^® brand, its no-antibiotics-ever product line. “That was a major learning experience for us,” said Dr. Stewart-Brown. “No-antibiotics-ever was a very small part of the market, but it gave the opportunity to learn what it takes to successfully run such a program. And we took those learnings and applied them across our entire company.

 “We also found that it is not realistic or responsible to eliminate all antibiotics. No matter how carefully you raise animals, some are going to be exposed to infections that can only be treated with antibiotics. As veterinarians, we have a responsibility to properly treat those animals,” said Dr. Stewart-Brown. “But, when we do treat chickens with antibiotics, we do it in a very focused and limited way that allows us to treat a single house and for the shortest duration possible, generally no longer than three days.”

Along the way, Perdue Foods was among the first to phase out the use arsenic in chicken feed – well before its market withdrawal. “Again, we saw that consumers were becoming concerned about the practice,” said Dr. Stewart-Brown. “But we found that, through improved flock health programs and housing environments, we are able to produce healthy chickens without it.”

In 2011, Perdue Foods acquired Coleman Natural Foods, adding organic chicken and no-antibiotics-ever turkey, pork and beef.  “As we expanded our brands and moved into other proteins, it was important to us that we continue to improve our practices, and not just get bigger,” said Perdue.

The final step in Perdue’s journey toward responsible antibiotics use was eliminating their use in the hatchery, a process that began in 2009 and culminated in the summer of 2014. “Most hatcheries typically use small amounts of antibiotics when vaccinating the eggs,” said Dr. Stewart-Brown. “The primary purpose is to prevent infection from entering through the vaccination site. In fact, this use is even allowed by the National Organic Program – though we don’t allow it in our organic products. We invested in our hatcheries to create a clean environment and are able to successfully vaccinate eggs without antibiotics.”

Supporting choice

Through its roster of brands and products, Perdue Foods offers consumers choices, including no-antibiotics-ever and organic. “Our organic and no-antibiotics-ever products appeal to consumers looking for specific attributes,” said Eric Christianson, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Perdue Foods. “But, all of our consumers can trust that our responsible animal health program ensures a minimal, safe and responsible use of antibiotics.”

Chickens raised for Perdue Foods outside the organic and no-antibiotics-ever programs are generally treated to prevent common illnesses using an animal only antibiotic not used in human medicine.

Regardless of the program, should animals become ill – including organic and no-antibiotics-ever – they will be treated as medically appropriate as part of Perdue’s animal welfare commitment. However, if antibiotics are used, they are not marketed as no-antibiotics-ever or organic.

“There is a misperception at times that organic and no-antibiotics-ever programs entail withholding antibiotic treatment,” said Dr. Stewart-Brown. “Both the National Organic Program and responsibly written no-antibiotics-ever programs require the use of antibiotics when medically necessary.

“However,” he added, “that philosophy does not justify the widespread use of human antibiotics in animal agriculture. We believe our less-than-five-percent use rate demonstrates a responsible use of human antibiotics, and responsible animal husbandry programs in which consumers can have confidence.”