USDA agree on new chicken labeling

Chicken without antibiotics that impact resistance in humans
Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson Foods Inc. on Thursday said the company and USDA have agreed to change the wording in its "raised without antibiotics" chicken program.The wording will now read: "Chicken Raised Without Antibiotics that impact antibiotic resistance in humans." It is a compromise reached after six weeks of consumer research and discussion, Tyson officials said. "We once again turned to consumers for their guidance and they told us this label more clearly conveys our chickens are not raised with any feed ingredients that could contribute to antibiotic resistance in humans," Dave Hogberg, senior vice president of Consumer Products Marketing for Tyson Foods, said in a news release. "The new labeling allows us to continue producing Raised Without Antibiotics chicken, which nine out of 10 consumers say is important to them."Tyson began the process of modifying the label in November after USDA notified the company that the agency considers ionophores, which Tyson uses in its chicken feed, as an antibiotic. Tyson said it plans to continue using ionophores, a federally approved feed ingredient used to help prevent an intestinal illness in chicken. They are not used in human medicine and don't contribute to developing antibiotic resistance to important human drugs.
Source: Meatingplace.com
Aporte: Guillermo Figueroa