Chicken soup loaded with antibiotics

ANTIBIOTICS IN FOOD

“Warning: The chicken in this package has been fed large quantities of antibiotics. Such practices may result in serious health risks to humans.” Margaret Mellon, director of the food and environment department for the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), writes: “You won’t see a warning label like the one above the next time you go to the supermarkets – but you should. The risks are all too real.” Giant poultry and most producers feed enormous quantities of antibiotics to healthy animals to speed growth, increase profits and avoid “over-crowded” condition diseases. The way animals are treated to this day in factory farm conditions is appalling. “Millions of pounds of valuable antibiotics – well over half of all US antibiotic production – are fed each year to healthy chickens, pigs, and cows. Many of these drugs are the very same ones humans depend on to fight against infectious disease. This is very risky.” Bacteria that may cause illness in humans, such as salmonella food poisoning, can acquire resistance in the factory farms to antibiotics. The UCS is active in many causes, and spearheaded a letter-writing campaign to the CEOs of Tyson Chicken and Perdue Farms, two of the largest poultry producers, asking letter writers to request that the two producers refrain from unnecessary use of antibiotics in chicken and livestock production.

Well Being Journal

                                                                                    September/October 2014