Perdue Foods has announced that it has removed all antibiotics from its chicken hatcheries, another step in setting a standard that defines the responsible use of antibiotics in poultry production. Perdue does not use antibiotics for growth promotion in its chicken production, and has not since 2007. The company does use an animal-only antibiotic to control an intestinal parasite, and will use antibiotics to treat and control illness in sick flocks.
“By no longer using any antibiotics in our hatcheries or any human antibiotics in feed, we’ve reached the point where 95 percent of our chickens never receive any human antibiotics, and the remainder receive them only for a few days when prescribed by a veterinarian,” said Dr. Bruce Stewart-Brown, Senior Vice President of Food Safety, Quality and Live Operations for Perdue Foods.