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Lessons to be learned from Subway’s antibiotic announcement

A livestock producer says there are lessons to be learned from Subway’s recent announcement and subsequent revision of antibiotic policies.

Last week, the fast food giant went public with a plan to eliminate antibiotic use from its meat supply.

Anne Burkholder feeds cattle in Nebraska’s Platte River Valley and tells Brownfield she was upset with Subway’s original decision to only offer meat from animals never treated with antibiotics.

“Because I think that they’re asking me to do the impossible.  And I was also frustrated with the way that they made the announcement.  There was a lot of confusion among consumers, all of a sudden thinking that the food they were currently buying held antibiotic residues.”

She points out it is illegal in the U.S. to market an animal carrying a violated residue.

Burkholder and others voiced frustrations through social media, and by the end of the week Subway made some clarifications.

“They said that they recognize that antibiotics are critical tools for keeping animals healthy.  That (antibiotics) should be used responsibly to preserve their effectiveness in both veterinary and human medicine.  They went on to say that their policy is for antibiotics to be used for treatment, control and prevention of disease, but not for growth promotion of farm animals.”

She says the restaurant’s latest guidelines match how antibiotics are being used on her farm and calls this a learning experience.

“Farmers need to find their voice.  Our customers need to invite us to be a member of the team.  We need to put our best and our brightest together each and every day to figure out how to get better and find some continuous improvement.  And be responsible for the way we grow food.”

Burkholder says farmers need to be involved in any discussion about how animals are raised and hopes a precedent has been set within the food industry.