• by Tanya Gazdik , March 26, 2024

Chick-fil-A has decided to reverse course and will allow some antibiotics in its chicken.

“In 2014, Chick-fil-A said it would shift to a ‘No Antibiotics Ever,’ or NAE standard, meaning the company would not use any antibiotics-raised chickens,” according to CBS News. “But now it is switching to a ‘No Antibiotics Important To Human Medicine,’ or NAIHM standard. Under this label, antibiotics are used to treat animals if they are sick, but use of antibiotics that are important to human medicine and are commonly used to treat people is restricted.”

The company’s previous far-reaching ban was fully implemented roughly five years ago, according toThe New York Times. 

The company blamed “projected supply chain issues” and told The Associated Press there are concerns about its ability to acquire antibiotic-free chicken.

Chick-fil-A is not the first company to reverse course in this regard. 

Tyson Foods, which processes about 20% of all chicken in the United States, made a similar decision last summer, dropping a “no antibiotics ever” label, according to  The Wall Street Journal.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that antibiotics are used in chicken to 'prevent disease and increase feed efficiency,' in other words, fatten the birds up,” per The New York Times. “There is no grave concern about antibiotics in chicken causing direct harm to a person who consumes them. But eating chicken treated with antibiotics could help promote drug-resistant bacteria, meaning an infection in a person might not respond to antibiotics prescribed by a doctor.”

Resistance to antibiotics is an “urgent global public health threat,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Resistance happens when illness-causing bacteria and fungi become able to defeat medicines, creating dangerous super bugs,” according toThe Washington Post.