Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 10/7/16


Perdue Farms announced today that it has completed the final step away from the routine use of any antibiotics in its chicken production by eliminating all use of animal-only antibiotics. Two years ago, Perdue became the first major poultry company to stop routinely giving its chickens antibiotics also used in human medicine.

Earlier this year, the Salisbury, Md.-based company announced it was two-thirds of the way to "no antibiotics ever." 

With this latest milestone, Perdue said it will continue to increase the availability of its no-antibiotics-ever products. “Consumers are asking for changes in the way their food is raised, and it takes commitment and scale of a company our size to give consumers real choice in the marketplace,” Perdue Farms Chairman Jim Perdue said in a news release.

Also earlier this year, Perdue announced a new animal husbandry program supportive of no-antibiotics production.
Perdue Farms asserts that healthy chickens can be raised without antibiotics.

“Through our experience raising no-antibiotics-ever chickens for almost a decade and exposure to organic production, we’ve learned to prevent diseases without antibiotics,” said Bruce Stewart-Brown, DVM, senior vice president of food safety, quality and live production. “If you can raise healthy chickens without routinely using antibiotics, why rely on them?”

The latest move increases the percentage of chickens Perdue raises with no antibiotics ever to 95 percent from the 67 percent reported earlier this year. The company veterinarians prescribe an antibiotic treatment for about 5 percent of the company’s flocks on average, and the treatment is limited to only what is appropriate to the condition affecting a flock. Those chickens are removed from the no-antibiotics-ever program and sold through other channels.

“Consumers want us to raise chickens in a way that doesn’t use antibiotics except if the chickens are sick and need veterinary care,” said Stewart-Brown. “We will never withhold an appropriate treatment.”

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