Do you know the most common restaurants that use the most antibiotics in their meat?
A recent new study ranked the 25 largest US fast food and restaurant chains based on their practices when it comes to antibiotics in their food (1). An estimate of 80% of the antibiotics sold in the United States are used by the industries of meat and poultry. Strangely enough, the majority is used on healthy animals to promote growth and prevent disease in crowded, unsanitary, and inhuman conditions brought by the industry. As we could have suspected, the overuse of antibiotics in food has resulted in a dangerous antibiotic resistance which has become a major health threat. Indeed, an increasing number of bacterial strains are resistant to every antibiotic that medical doctors use. The CDC estimates that at least two million Americans contract antibiotic-resistant infections every year. The American Academy of Pediatrics stated that the overuse of antibiotics in animals can make bacteria such as salmonella, E. coli and Campylobacter stronger and resistant to drugs that were previously able to get rid of them.
Consequently, several health government agencies have recently declared antibiotic resistance a top health threat in the United States, and the widespread use of antibiotics in healthy livestock production is a major causative factor.
These are the restaurant that rated F, meaning their meats contain the most antibiotics:
- KFC
- Dunkin’ Donuts
- Sonic
- Olive Garden
- Denny’s
- Starbucks
- Jack in The Box
- Burger King
- Applebees
- Domino’s Pizza
- Chilli’s
- Little Caesars
- Buffalo Wild Wings
- Dairy Queen
- Arby’s
- IHOP
Only two restaurants were given an A rating this year. These two are the only restaurant chains that offer an array of meat options produced without the routine use of antibiotics: Panera Bread or Chipotle
As of Fall 2016, 91% of all meat and poultry served at Panera Bread is raised without antibiotics.
For the second year in a row, Panera Bread and Chipotle Mexican Grill were the only two chains to score an A grade.
