Source: MEATINGPLACE, 5/7/15

A group of large U.S. school districts has set a rigorous new standard not only to reduce but also verify the amount of antibiotics used in chicken they buy for school lunch programs.

With combined purchasing power of $36 million of chicken a year, the 15 school districts worked with Tyson Foods Inc. and the USDA to create a system of third-party audits to earn the “Certified Responsible Antibiotic Use” (CRAU) designation.

While Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson and other chicken producers have been working to reduce or eliminate the use of antibiotics for years, the new standard puts that goal in writing, including a detailed checklist for farmers and processors to meet when audited by federal inspectors. The concern is that overuse of antibiotics leads to drug-resistant bacteria.

“Quite frankly, the industry has been saying they’ve been doing all kinds of things for some time,” says Kathy Lawrence, director of strategic development for School Food FOCUS (Food Options for Children in the United States), in an interview. “When there’s no verification, anybody can say anything — truly.”

Her group developed the standard and verification system in conjunction with Pew Charitable Trusts, a Philadelphia-based charitable foundation that focuses on public policy issues.

“We hope that the standard will be widely adopted to help slow the emergence of superbugs, and keep antibiotics effective to protect human health — so when the students in our schools, you, me, and our families need antibiotics, they will work,” says Gail Hansen, senior officer of Pew’s Antibiotic Resistance project, in a prepared statement.

The standard
The CRAU standard doesn’t attempt to eliminate the use of all antibiotics, but it limits their use to treating diseased chickens under the supervision of a veterinarian. In other words, it forbids using antibiotics routinely to prevent disease or promote growth.

“People have been claiming they use antibiotics prudently for decades,” mainly to treat or prevent disease, says Lance Price, director of the Antibiotics Action Center at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. But he notes that dosages for promoting growth can’t be distinguished from amounts used for routine disease prevention.

“Bacteria don’t care what you call it,” he adds. “From a public health standpoint, that’s not acceptable.”

Some chicken already is produced without the use of any antibiotics for any reason, the group acknowledges. “But supply is short and we believe every child in every district — large and small, urban and rural — deserves more sustainably produced chicken now,” according to Lawrence’s statement announcing the standard at a May 7 press conference in Washington, D.C.

Verification
According to Craig Morris, deputy administrator for USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service Livestock, Poultry and Seed Program, verification of the standard will be conducted by federal inspectors, funded by user fees of $108 an hour plus travel costs. However, CRAU inspections can be conducted along with other regular inspections, he adds, which will “defray those costs across the board.”

While the school lunch program represents only a tiny fraction of U.S. chicken consumption — even though it’s the number one protein served in schools — it would be feasible to scale up the verification system to include all chicken production, adds Morris.

While limited for now to Tyson’s processing plant in New Holland, Pa., where most of its chicken products for K-12 menus are produced, Pew and School Foods FOCUS are working with other chicken firms to meet the standard, including Waverly, Neb.-based Tecumseh Farms-Smart Chicken and a large firm they didn’t name

USDA verified on April 7 that the Tyson plant met the CRAU standard.
A spokesman for the National Chicken Council declined to comment.

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