Restaurant giants Burger King and Tim Hortons are looking to be the next ones to move away from antibiotics in their chicken. They've announced just this week that they plan to switch to using chickens that have been raised without the use of any antibiotics, and they are just two more restaurants that are joining a growing trend to move away from using antibiotic-ridden food.

The company said that it plans to make the changes this year, so that all of its U.S. stores will start operating this way by next year and in Canada they'll see the changes by 2018.

Antibiotics have been increasingly used in factory farming for several decades now and many have suggested that the prevalent use of them has led to issues with antibiotic resistance, and more. So there has been an increasing movement over the last few years from conscious consumers who are looking to support brands that opt out of using antibiotics in their meat. It has become so important for many consumers to find antibiotic-free meat that we are now seeing it used heavily in marketing ads, like those for A&W and other food brands/chains.

It's estimated that at least 70 percent of the antibiotics that are sold in the U.S. are then used in meat production.

U.S. sales of antibiotics were seen to increase between 2014 and 2015, despite many scientists warning against implementing the regular use of antibiotics for the purposes of promoting growth. However, a number of restaurants have already made the stance not to use antibiotics in their meat, like Chipotle, Panera Bread, Chik-Fil-A, and others. And perhaps even more will follow after the move from Tim Hortons and Burger King. It's pretty impressive to see how far the antibiotic-free trend has come, considering the growing number of corporate giants that are getting on-board with getting it out of their products.

pics:
pixabay
firstwefeast
CBC
Forbes
sources:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-rstrnt-brnd-antibiotics-chicken-idUSKBN14H1ON
http://globalnews.ca/news/3150420/burger-king-tim-hortons-antibiotics-chicken/
http://www.eatthis.com/best-worst-fast-food-chains-using-antibiotics
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-most-successful-fast-food-chains-in-america-2015-8
http://in.reuters.com/article/us-usa-livestock-antibiotics-idINKBN14B2E9
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bethhoffman/2013/03/08/meat-without-antibiotics-where-to-buy-the-good-stuff/#263da05f60a1