Pew provides details of Chicago school chicken project
The Chicago Public Schools has begun serving local chicken raised without antibiotics to students in 473 schools, the Pew Charitable Trusts announced Tuesday.
The district's new scratch-cooked chicken program includes about 1.2 million pounds from Amish farms that do not use antibiotics, for a total of about 2 million pounds of fresh chicken in the 2011-12 school year, Pew said in a news release.
Students will be offered bone-in chicken two to three times each month. Pew said the purchase was made through food service provider Chartwells-Thompson Hospitality, and that Chartwells and the school district have been investigating the use of antibiotics in poultry production through their participation in the School Food FOCUS (Food Options for Children in the United States) Learning Lab.
Negotiations with the producer, Miller Amish Country Poultry of Orland, Ind., were facilitated with help from Whole Foods Market.
Laura Rogers, Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming
“Institutional and individual consumers have the power to change industrial farming practices that endanger human health,” said Laura Rogers, project director of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.
“The routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock that are not sick is undermining the effectiveness of these life-saving drugs, which leaves children especially vulnerable," Rogers said. "To protect them, we encourage school districts and other large institutional buyers of meat and poultry across the country to follow in Chicago’s trailblazing footsteps.”
Although antibiotics are used throughout the American livestock industry, Pew said the project singled out chicken because it is the most popular protein served in schools.
Pew said that FOCUS and HHIF advocate for conservative antibiotic use on farms because of the danger that excessive use poses in the environment, not on the plate: "It is important to note that chicken produced conventionally is just as safe and wholesome to eat as chicken produced without antibiotics."
A Whole Foods spokesman said the company was pleased to be a part of this initiative.
"By offering a high-quality product from a vendor that we deeply believe in – Miller Poultry, who produces our Pine Manor antibiotic free chicken – to the 300,000+ Chicago public school children, we’re able to demonstrate our commitments to local communities and our vendors, which is extremely important to us," said Rich Wolff, Midwest regional meat coordinator for Whole Foods. "We greatly look forward to seeing this relationship flourish and grow."
Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y.
Meanwhile, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., said a Food and Drug Administration study showed that increasing farm use of antibiotics threatens public health.
The FDA study of antibiotic use in 2010 showed that antibiotic use in agriculture was up 6.7 percent in 2010 from 2009, Slaughter said in a news release.
The data shows that increased use of lincosamides, penicillins and tetracyclines account for the majority of overall increase in antibiotic use, she said, noting that all three antibiotics are used to address human health.
“The numbers don't lie — antibiotic use in farm animals is on the rise and the problem is getting worse,” said Slaughter, the author of a bill to control antibiotic use.
“By all means, if an animal is sick, it should be treated with antibiotics. But to fatten up healthy animals through the daily dosing of antibiotics – drugs that should be preserved to treat human illnesses – is malpractice, and it’s contributing to an increase in deadly antibiotic resistant bacteria,” she said.
“This irresponsible use represents a serious threat to public health in America. Just last year, 60,000 Americans died in hospitals as a result of antibiotic-resistant infections. That is simply unacceptable. The FDA needs to take common sense steps to reduce the needless use of antibiotics in healthy animals, and protect human beings.”
The district's new scratch-cooked chicken program includes about 1.2 million pounds from Amish farms that do not use antibiotics, for a total of about 2 million pounds of fresh chicken in the 2011-12 school year, Pew said in a news release.
Students will be offered bone-in chicken two to three times each month. Pew said the purchase was made through food service provider Chartwells-Thompson Hospitality, and that Chartwells and the school district have been investigating the use of antibiotics in poultry production through their participation in the School Food FOCUS (Food Options for Children in the United States) Learning Lab.
Negotiations with the producer, Miller Amish Country Poultry of Orland, Ind., were facilitated with help from Whole Foods Market.
“Institutional and individual consumers have the power to change industrial farming practices that endanger human health,” said Laura Rogers, project director of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.
“The routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock that are not sick is undermining the effectiveness of these life-saving drugs, which leaves children especially vulnerable," Rogers said. "To protect them, we encourage school districts and other large institutional buyers of meat and poultry across the country to follow in Chicago’s trailblazing footsteps.”
Although antibiotics are used throughout the American livestock industry, Pew said the project singled out chicken because it is the most popular protein served in schools.
Pew said that FOCUS and HHIF advocate for conservative antibiotic use on farms because of the danger that excessive use poses in the environment, not on the plate: "It is important to note that chicken produced conventionally is just as safe and wholesome to eat as chicken produced without antibiotics."
A Whole Foods spokesman said the company was pleased to be a part of this initiative.
"By offering a high-quality product from a vendor that we deeply believe in – Miller Poultry, who produces our Pine Manor antibiotic free chicken – to the 300,000+ Chicago public school children, we’re able to demonstrate our commitments to local communities and our vendors, which is extremely important to us," said Rich Wolff, Midwest regional meat coordinator for Whole Foods. "We greatly look forward to seeing this relationship flourish and grow."
Meanwhile, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., said a Food and Drug Administration study showed that increasing farm use of antibiotics threatens public health.
The FDA study of antibiotic use in 2010 showed that antibiotic use in agriculture was up 6.7 percent in 2010 from 2009, Slaughter said in a news release.
The data shows that increased use of lincosamides, penicillins and tetracyclines account for the majority of overall increase in antibiotic use, she said, noting that all three antibiotics are used to address human health.
“The numbers don't lie — antibiotic use in farm animals is on the rise and the problem is getting worse,” said Slaughter, the author of a bill to control antibiotic use.
“By all means, if an animal is sick, it should be treated with antibiotics. But to fatten up healthy animals through the daily dosing of antibiotics – drugs that should be preserved to treat human illnesses – is malpractice, and it’s contributing to an increase in deadly antibiotic resistant bacteria,” she said.
“This irresponsible use represents a serious threat to public health in America. Just last year, 60,000 Americans died in hospitals as a result of antibiotic-resistant infections. That is simply unacceptable. The FDA needs to take common sense steps to reduce the needless use of antibiotics in healthy animals, and protect human beings.”
