Source: MEATINGPLACE, 3/6/15

Costco Wholesale Corp. is working with its suppliers to eliminate human-use antibiotics in the chicken and other meat products it sells, Reuters reported.

Costco does not have a target date for reaching the goal, Craig Wilson, vice president of food safety, told Reuters, noting it will take some time due to supply constraints.

His comments follow McDonald’s Corp.’s announcement this week that within two years it expects to buy its chicken only from suppliers whose flocks have been raised without human antibiotics.

Costco, the third-largest U.S. retailer, sells 80 million rotisserie chickens a year, according to the Reuters report.

McDonald’s franchisee Arcos Dorados, which operates 2,000 restaurants in 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries, also announced measures to limit use of antibiotics important to human medicine.

The company said it will work with its beef, chicken, pork and dairy suppliers to ensure principals such as prohibiting use of antibiotics to promote animal growth are followed.

Meanwhile, the A&W quick service chain in Canada said it has served beef raised without hormones or steroids since 2013 and this year began serving chicken raised without the use of antibiotics.

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.