Restaurant report card
 

grades on antibiotics in meat supply

(CNN)A new report is sounding the alarm about the use of antibiotics in the meat and poultry supply chains of the 25 largest U.S. fast food and "fast casual" restaurants.

Most top U.S. restaurant chains have no publicly available policy to limit regular use of antibiotics in their meat and poultry supply chains, according to the "Chain Reaction" report by Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council and four other consumer interest, public health and environmental organizations.

"When livestock producers administer antibiotics routinely to their flocks and herds, bacteria can develop resistance, thrive and even spread to our communities, contributing to the larger problem of antibiotic resistance," the authors wrote in the report, which was released Tuesday. "The worsening epidemic of resistance means that antibiotics may not work when we need
them most: when our kids contract a staph infection (MRSA), or our parents get a life-threatening pneumonia."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have repeatedly warned about the not-far-off public health threat of antibiotic resistance. The CDC estimates at least 2 million Americans contract antibiotic-resistant infections every year, and that 23,000 die as a result.

"A post-antibiotic era -- in which common infections and minor injuries can kill -- far from being an apocalyptic fantasy, is instead a very real possibility for the 21st century," the WHO cautioned in a 2014 report.
Search for next generation antibiotics

As people are eating out more than ever, the researchers behind the report wanted to look closely at "industry leaders and laggards." They created a
scorecard assessing the commitments of U.S. restaurant chains on antibiotics use and transparency in their supply chains.

How did your favorite food fare?

Each restaurant was graded on its antibiotics use policies, including the strength of the policy and whether it applies to all types of meat; its implementation of policies, including the estimated availability of meat produced without routine antibiotics; and transparency about its policies, including third-party audits, whether its policy was listed online and whether it responded to the survey. They authors reached out to restaurants in person, via email or via traditional mail. The total number of possible points was based on the restaurant's menu offerings.
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Chipotle and Panera Bread fared best, with both receiving As. Those restaurants are the only two that report serving a majority of their meat from animals raised without regular use of antibiotics, the report said.

Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's received Cs. Subway, Wendy's, Burger King, Denny's, Domino's and Starbucks all received Fs, but got at least one point.

Other restaurants that received Fs earned zero out of 36 possible points: Olive Garden, Papa John's, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Applebee's, Sonic, Chili's, Jack in the Box, Arby's, Dairy Queen, IHOP, Outback and Little Caesars.

There have been many Recalls of salads and vegetabLes so nothing is healthy or safe. I personally can take no one seriously that quotes Sanjay Gupta. That is just barely Better than quoting Dr. Oz.

Jimbo. You are edifying us again. What have you done with VPL?

my thought exactly

"A good rule of thumb is to avoid eating foods that contain ingredients you can't pronounce," says Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent.

would he like us to avoid medication we cannot pronounce as well? Good luck if you need a hydroxymethylglutarylCoEnzymeAreductase inhibitor. I didn't know the value of something was tied to its pronunciation, but then again you were quoting Gupta, so you get what you get. I hope this now means I don't have to eat broccoli or Brussels sprouts

Not at all darling, target your comments to CNN

Heh. You brought it to ToTV, not CNN.

Holy smokes. How big a needle do they needle to give you that hydroxymethylglutarylCoEnzymeAreductase shot? Brussel sprouts don't fit in a needle do they. Joking aside, I agree with you.

Agreed

Fortunately it's a pill. And replace that long monstrosity (which took me years to pronounce glibly) with a 6 letter word-----Statin. I guess Gupta only endorses taking something if it has a short name as well. And to the previous poster---yes, he's still better than Oz, kind of in the same way that shingles are still better than herpes.

Zzzzzzzzzzz.......Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............Zz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

What I find amazing is that a group of (probable) wackos, form their own (probable) wacko group, then give it a legitimate sounding name. They then develop their own (probable) wacko scorecard and send out foot soldiers to these restaurant chains to fill in their (probable) wacko scorecard (and probably coerce donations as well). Then they put their (probable) wacko results on some (probable)wacko internet blog. Then CNN picks up on it and all of a sudden it is legitimate????
I'll bet the "world headquarters" of these groups is in Mommy's basement.

I sure get the point of that analogy. Ouch!

I don't know about their study and I do know organizations can slant a story any way they want to benefit them but--

A few years ago I had 13 UTIs in 2 years. Every 2 months like clockwork. My primary care doctor and urologist put me on antibiotics but the infections would come back. The urologist put me on Cipro for a year. Didnt help but caused some nerve damage in my hands. I saw an ABC News story about antibiotics in chicken and I love chicken! Finally a Wellness doctor was able to help me. I now only buy USDA natural chicken (free range and without antibiotics). I'm pretty picky when I eat out. I do like Panera Bread or Chik-fa-la.

Please excuse any typos. I have a broken finger and it is hard to type!

I hope you're better and I hope both your Cipro induced neuropathy and broken finger are better. Beyond that, I don't get the point. Are you trying to draw a cause and effect relationship between antibiotic use in the chicken industry and your recurrent UTIs???? If so, don't waste your breath, no such evidence exists. Even if your "Wellness Doctor" (whatever THAT is) sold you on the idea, IT DOES NOT EXIST.
Now if you are, or believe yourself to be, healthier eating just natural free range chicken, by all means continue. I'll always take a good result over a million elegant diagnoses any day

You did very well. And when you get down here for good, you will find non hormone/antibiotic grass fed meat and non antibiotic free range chickens at The Organic Chef store in Ocala. You can order online and go pick it up. Or you can walk into the store and see what they have. It's the best!

I hope your injury heals soon.

Well I am not one to throw caution to the wind but the world of experts have continued in my lifetime to walk back too many warnings. My first recollection was cranberry sauce. Now experts did well with cigarettes and I finally mustered up enough courage to stop smoking in 1973.

Today the same folks who adhere to the dangers of climate change also believe that GMO's are the devil. Now I do believe the climate is always changing but I am not concerned with GMO's because GMO's have existed for many years. And I can't fault people for believing scientist. However science seems to never be settled and one has only to look at how many times scientist have walked back man's origins.

I was a victim to an overuse of an antibotic before it became fashionable. It took over 30 days while an inpatient for doctors to discover it was the cause to what they diagnosed as psudeo-membraneous enter colitis (sp) and they cured it with a recent army's discovery of another antibotic vagamicin (sp). My doctors advise stay away from broad spectrum antibotics in the future

Plainly speaking again I will not throw caution to the wind but methinks far too many scientist suffer from conceit, lack of attention, a desire for the validation of their life's work at any costs or are swayed by profits.

Sorry you had a personal encounter with pseudomembranous enterocolitis. This occurs when broad spectrum antibiotics administered DIRECTLY to a patient kills most of the normal intestinal bacteria and allows the overgrowth of a specific species---Clostridium difficile. This bacteria elaborates a toxin that causes profuse diarrhea. In and of itself it is not bad, it is about 8% of the normal intestinal bacteria and without it we would all be chronically constipated. It's only when it "runs amuck" and grows to 50,60,70% that the problems ensue. It can fairly easily be treated with metronidazole or in your case, vancomycin. This condition is a known possible side effect in 1-2% of those taking broad spectrum ABX and varies in severity greatly. Remember, as long as the original antibiotic was given for a legitimate reason, you probably cured an infection that could have been much worse.

For those of you worried about the OP, fear not. You CANNOT get this condition from meat that came from an animal that was given antibiotics. Let me clarify that---there is an extremely slight possibility if you eat your meat raw---not rare, RAW. If you make a habit of eating raw chicken or pork, consider yourself lucky to have survived this long. Besides, there are a lot more dangerous things in raw meat than antibiotics.

I am such an advocate of good science.


I wish you were setting up practice here, Doc. But that's o.k., you deserve to retire, just like the rest of us.

Lived this long eating off the shelf chicken, beef and pork. Guess I will continue doing the same.

Sorry GG, I think I fought the good fight long enough. With the changes in progress, I was beginning to feels like a salmon swimming upstream. I'll leave the new era of healthcare to a younger generation of physicians, they'll do just fine. I do miss it already, so every time I get a Villages Heath Care recruitment postcard, I think about----but only for 3 seconds, then I come to the realization that my wife would go postal.

the thread is not about what you buy from your market but what you eat at restaurants and how they respond to the issue.

But in buying meat & fish from your retail markets.......

Antibiotic-resistant (AR) bacteria can spread from farm animals to humans via food, via animal-to-human transfer on farms and in rural areas, and through contaminated waste entering the environment. The most commonly affected populations are those with under-developed or compromised immune systems: pregnant women, children, the elderly and people with certain health conditions. But increasingly, AR bacteria have the potential to affect anyone.

Antibiotic resistance has become a global problem. People get sicker from these infections, as it takes multiple rounds of increasingly stronger antibiotics to stop the infection, allowing the infection to progress further than it might otherwise. Fewer drug options can make it harder for doctors to treat patients with allergies to some antibiotics and make it more likely for patients to require stronger drugs given intravenously.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that at least 2 million Americans each year experience AR infections, leading to at least 23,000 deaths. Approximately 22 percent of those infected originate from foodborne pathogens.
Multiple studies have found AR bacteria in retail meat and fish products, including the federal government’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS), and AR bacteria have cause notable foodborne illness outbreaks.

On loose fruits and vegetables, look at the Price Look Up (PLU) sticker. If the produce is organic, the code will contain five-digits beginning with 9. Non-organic counterparts will have four digits. (Example: Organically grown bananas will be 94011, compared to 4011 for those treated with chemicals and pesticides.) A five-digit PLU beginning with 8 means the item is genetically modified, which some research indicates may pose health risks.

To bear the green-and-white “USDA Organic” seal, packaged organics must be certified by any of the 50 USDA-accredited certified agents and contain at least 95 percent organically produced ingredients (excluding water and salt). Those with at least 70 percent organically produced ingredients may use the words “made with organic ingredients” but cannot have the green-and-white USDA seal. Some may have labels with a different color combination.

here's an interesting article on facts the organic industry don't want you to know.



Remember always attack the messenger not the message :a20:

Very well stated. Much more articulate than the reference I was going to make about a little dog that just won't stop humping your leg no matter how many times you kick him off.

You NAILED it. :bigbow:

Restaurant report card
 

Multiple studies have found << fill in the cause of your choice >> .

Once again, I assume you COOK your meat. Foodborne outbreaks are almost always caused by the consumption of raw food that was mishandled---especially vegetables, and in restaurants are usually traced to the salads

With all of the warnings, information and misinformation that we are fed on a daily basis..... don't you wonder how we all have managed to live long enough to retire to this lovely place?

Very, very little, if any of the OP's comments are because of a genuine concern for the health of those who consume meat and fish. The true concern here is for the animals that are being raised for consumption. There is a much better chance of converting someone playing the "health card" then the, here is my "PETA membership card". (my opinion)