Vijay Sukumar, chief food innovation officer for KFC U.S., said the new policy applies throughout the bird’s full life cycle, which includes the hatchery where chicks are sometimes injected with antibiotics while still in the shell.
Using data from a 2017 WATT PoultryUSA survey, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) estimates that more than 42 percent of the U.S. chicken industry is either under an antibiotics stewardship pledge or has already converted to responsible practices.
KFC’s new policy will likely move the number even higher, said Lena Brook, a food policy advocate at the NRDC, who noted that the estimate includes “raised without antibiotics” pledges as well as “raised without medically important” antibiotics pledges from producers like Tyson Foods, Perdue Farms and others.
“It’s great news for fried chicken lovers, and most importantly it’s great news for public health,” Brook said. “Their commitment is one that we’ve been waiting for.”
Human infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose a grave threat to global health and are estimated to kill at least 23,000 Americans each year, although a recent Reuters investigation found that many infection-related deaths are going uncounted.
Hochman said the policy change has been in the works for a year. It will add some incremental cost that KFC plans to manage rather than pass on in the form of menu price increases, he said.
At least some of KFC suppliers are already well on their way to compliance.
Tyson, the largest U.S. poultry producer and a KFC supplier, has announced plans to eliminate the use of human antibiotics in its chicken flocks by September 2017.
Yum’s Taco Bell chain already committed to serve chicken raised without antibiotics important to human medicine in all U.S. restaurants by the end of last month. Its Pizza Hut division has the same rules for pizza toppings.
