Fast Food Majors adopting double standards on antibiotics
Fast Food Majors adopting double standards on antibiotics

A green body alleged that fast food majors in India were adopting "double standards" by committing themselves to eliminating misuse of antibiotics in meat supply chains in a time-bound manner in the West but not in India.

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released an assessment report based on data in public domain and response obtained from several multinational companies and three Indian firms selling fast food in the country.

Deputy Director General of the CSE, Chandra Bhushan said “Our study shows that these fast food MNCs do not have any India-specific commitments to eliminate misuse of antibiotics in their meat supply chains. Surprisingly, these global giants have made ambitious, specific and time-bound commitments in the US and other countries to eliminate antibiotic misuse owing to growing pressure from regulators and other stakeholders. This is sheer "double standards".

Jubilant Foodworks, a domestic franchise for the US-based popular chain Domino's Pizza, said "We follow global standards and processes, and ensure that the highest standards of quality and food safety and hygiene are maintained across our supply chain. It has a formal policy in place on usage of antibiotics in poultry birds' health management to guide their sourcing of poultry.  We have always had a set of standards followed while sourcing poultry for our products, ensuring that our suppliers follow the right farm practices”.

KFC said in a statement “it adheres to all laws and regulations regarding the use of antibiotics. Furthermore, as part of our strict adherence to robust safety practices and processes, chicken supplied to KFC India is free from any antibiotic residue, as our chicken supplies are subjected to a withdrawal period specific to each medicinal treatment”.

Head, Food Safety and Toxins programme at CSE, Amit Khurana said "Fast food is not good for health and on top of that if the meat is sourced from an animal injected with antibiotics for growth promotion (non-therapeutic use), then it's a double whammy for the consumer. A person may or may not get affected after consuming such food. While some others shared their practices of sourcing and testing, they did not specify any timelines by which they planned to eliminate antibiotic misuse”.

 
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