Animal welfare groups blast fast-food giant for 'cop out' pledge on antibiotics

In December, Yum Brands--which owns Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut--vowed to eliminate "critically" important antibiotics from the chickens its restaurants sell. Now the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and 81 advocacy groups for animal welfare and the environment have sent a letter to Yum's CEO saying that pledge isn't enough. In a blog item posted Jan. 28, the NRDC pointed out that critically important antibiotics are only a small subset of so-called medically important antibiotics. Therefore, drugs used to treat common infections in people, such as pneumonia and strep throat, can still be used in Yum's chicken supply, which may further drive the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant infections, NRDC says. Yum's vow, therefore, "may sound like progress on antibiotics stewardship, but is in fact a cop out, not a solution," the group contends. Article