Sometimes big companies can do the right thing for the right reasons. McDonald’s issues antibiotics policy:
In response to increasingly dire warnings that widespread use of antibiotics on U.S. farms is making the drugs less effective for treating people, the fast-food chain McDonald’s is directing some meat suppliers to stop using antibiotic growth promoters altogether and encouraging others to cut back. Because McDonald’s is the nation’s largest purchaser of beef and among the largest for chicken and pork, its action will noticeably reduce the amount of antibiotics being used as growth promoters.
I wonder how the usual suspects will respond to this… I’m sure they’ll find something to complain about.
"I wonder how the usual suspects will respond to this Im sure theyll find something to complain about."
Thank goodness for brave mavericks like yourself sticking up for these put-upon corporations JF!
Fair play to McDonalds on this issue - although I wonder what examination of the background of the decision would reveal. For example, how long have they known about the damage they've been doing? What net effect has this noble corporation had on the weakening of antibiotics?
However, do you really expect people to treat McDonalds fairly because they call one thing correctly? Would you praise a murderer because he stops murdering?
Personally, this news came to me on the same day that my three-year old son returned from nursery with a McDonalds flag he'd drawn - golden arches and all. All thanks to the generous donation yesterday by this wonderful company of a McDonalds playset! Forgive my continuing cynicism, JF.
The antibiotics issue has been known about for over a decade ... thanks for the quick response Ronald.
While I hate McDonald's, this does point out something about advocacy as well. It is often the case that the way to make positive changes in our consumer driven world these days is to put pressure on McDonald's or Walmart or the other mega-corps. A lot of pressure has been put on McDonald's over this issue and over the issue of high fat, and they have addressed both issues this year. While I don't think they have become corporate saints (yeah right!), I do acknowledge that getting McDonald's to make this sort of change drives the whole industry, and that that shift can help all of us, whether McDonald's was being benevolent or simply pragmatic.
Day care? You send your son to day care? Are you crazy?
how long have they known about the damage they've been doing? What net effect has this noble corporation had on the weakening of antibiotics?
That's why I can't give McD's too much praise. This has been common knowledge for a *long* time. It's hard to imagine that McD's 'just heard' of this and decided to take action which leads me to think there are some other motivations behind this move.
Methinks the big motivation is that the megacorp has finally stopped it's growth and is NOW looking for other ways to improve its image. So, again, if the company is making bucks, they don't care.
Still, less antibiotics in animal production is a good thing.
Now, if we could convince doctors to cut back on the use of antibiotics...
Methinks the big motivation is that the megacorp has finally stopped it's growth and is NOW looking for other ways to improve its image. So, again, if the company is making bucks, they don't care.
I totally agree, I haven't eaten at McDonalds in so long because of their food and facility. Now that they have stopped growing, like most corps. do, they want to find a way to grow more.
In result, bringing up old discussions at their board meetings that no one cared about when they were first purposed. No matter what McDonald's does, I am not going to be seen at a McDonalds for a long time.
I think it was Descartes who described humans as "dichotomizing machines." We have a natural tendency to view things as good or bad, black or white, as a way of making a complex world simpler to deal with. It's so much easier to say that McDonald's, or Microsoft, or Exxon/Mobil is a purely "bad" corporation than to acknowledge that they might also do some constructive things.
I don't eat at McDonald's either (and I've been boycotting Exxon/Mobil since 2001), but I recognize that corporations are made up of people, and people can change.
I haven't been following the debate on antibiotics in meat, but I wouldn't be surprised the science on this is still not clear-cut. It's like the rGBH hormone issue in cow's milk -- to my knowledge there is still no convincing evidence that rGBH in milk has any effect on humans, but many milk producers have voluntarily stopped using it because of the public perception that it might be unsafe. Maybe McDonald's didn't act right away on the antibiotics issue because there was still a lot of scientific debate on the subject and there wasn't a lot of good evidence to support a decision one way or another. Also it would make sense for McDonald's to wait to see if the FDA or some other agency was going to regulate antibiotic use in livestock before making its own suppliers reduce or eliminate their use of antibiotics.
Actually just found a pretty convincing article on the antibiotics issue here. It does sound like the scientific evidence is pretty convincing.
Viva Taco Bell!
Until you get food poisoning there. Three soft tacos late one Friday night forced me to spend the weekend in the bathroom.
I go for their delicious bean burritos (add sour cream) and 7 layer burritos. I wouldn't eat any meat there to save my life. My friend told me that the "beef" there comes in boxes stamped "Grade B - Fit for Consumption".
From my beloved New Scientist.
Small steps affect change slowly. And slowly is the only way change ever occurs. Jaded as we may be, this is a small step forward, since no one has proven these products do not harm humans, I think that's the course we should follow.
I haven't been following the debate on antibiotics in meat, but I wouldn't be surprised the science on this is still not clear-cut.
It's not that the antibiotics are bad for you, it's that they allow more germs to build up immunities to the antibiotics we have.
It's like the rGBH hormone issue in cow's milk -- to my knowledge there is still no convincing evidence that rGBH in milk has any effect on humans,
It probably doesn't. But it has tremendous effects on the cows and the industry.
rGBH serves one purpose and one purpose only...to make the drug company richer. It's a product that had no market until they forced a market on it. Once your neighbor starts using it, you're obliged to use it to keep up with production. As more milk is produced, the over-production goes up. The price goes down, and dairy producers are left where they were at before...though the drug company is that much richer.
The drug also stresses the cow out. This, in itself isn't necessarily bad, but it makes the animal more succeptable to other sicknesses...which certainly hurt the cow, and, in theory, could be passed into the milk.
Either way, it slowly eats away at the family farm industry and sooner or later we're left with corporate farms that aren't a whole lot ethically different in terms of animal welfare, the environment, and employee wages/benefits than McDonalds. ;o)
What about McD's new "premium salads." So that implies that their previous salad offerings were utter cack?
I am, unfortunately, somewhat fond of McD's breakfast sandwiches from time to time (ooh, and those fries!), but there's no way I can ever eat anything else there.
Previous posters are absolutely correct: McD's is struggling to grow (although there are an alarming number of new stores in NW Chicago) and they're hoping these "changes" somehow help their image and bottom line. Honestly, I don't understand how they can continue to grow with such an amazing string of utter losers. McPizza? McTacos? These McGriddle thingies? Yick.
Remember when they stopped using all the styrofoam containers "for the environment?" They didn't stop using them, they just shipped 'em out of the US.
Nothing more tiring than corporate bashing.
oh yeah, bang on the money pb let's not concern ourselves with the issue of the efficacy of antibiotics going into decline, let's just blindly trust all the major corporations to do what's best for us eh?
Nothing more tiring than corporate bashing.
Fair play to McDonald's for taking a tiny step in the right direction, whatever the reason. It's not going to make me eat at any of it's restaurants anymore than if the food were free.
PS. If you drink decaf, then this may end up in your cup sooner than you think.
Nothing more tiring than corporate bashing.
Yea, c'mon everyone. Let's start showing some love for our grand mega corporations out there! Afterall, an overpaid CEO has feelings to.
Let's all go and get our selves a McWhatever in celebration.
Make it biggie sized!
PS. If you drink decaf, then this may end up in your cup sooner than you think.
Yet another of many reasons to avoid drinking decaf ;-)
Actually what troubles me more is a review of orange juice concentrate that appeared in Consumer Reports a long time ago (probably 15 years now), in which they ranked all the brands based on their content of insect parts. All of them contained insect parts, it's just that some of them had less than others. I think Tropicana had the least amount of insect parts and thus was rated best.
Ever since reading that article, I've squeezed my own orange juice.
Pre-emptive use of antibiotics (on farm animals) is completely prohibited in Sweden.
All of them contained insect parts, it's just that some of them had less than others.
What's wrong with insect parts?
What's wrong with insect parts?
I once played music for an "insect dinner" that was put on as a fundraiser by a local environmental education center. The food was prepared by a gourmet chef, and my payment for the gig was a free supper. The bee-larvae pate was pretty good, as were the grilled mealworms (tasted like shrimp) and the ice cream with ant sauce (lemony zing) for dessert. The grasshopper quesadillas tasted a bit buggy, though, and the crickets on the focaccia were too vividly crunchy. I couldn't bring myself to eat the Japanese beetle sushi or the live and wriggling giant mealworms that people were eating as appetizers. NBC's Today Show sent someone to film the whole thing, it was quite an event.
So anyway, I don't mind eating bugs if they're on the menu, but I'd really rather not have them in my orange juice thank you very much.
No more antibiotics in my food? Does that mean I'm going to have to PAY for my drugs from now on?
;)
Give them credit for doing it - the fast food industry is the one thing that has any clout to get the meatpacking industry to do anything resembling the right thing. But I'm not going to get all cozy to McDonald's yet. Not until they also force the meat industry to start handling meat in such a way that they don't get shit all over it (literally) and make it highly prone to outbreaks of major food-borne pathogens. It's doable, doesn't terribly impact profits - other countries don't have these problems with their meat supplies, and business still make healthy profits - but they don't for whatever reason.
Of course, even if they do that, I'm still not eating at McDonald's. I'm assuming it's not the antibiotics that make their food taste like paperboard dipped in grease. And I'm certainly not going to eat there when the closest one to me is across the street from an In 'N Out Burger, the best fast-food burger ever created, and better than many restaurant burgers.
Forget Mickey D's .... eat this instead.
Grow as much as you can, prepare as much as you can. Take control, folks. You can do it!
Praising McDonald's for this announcement seems akin to praising Mississippi for finally outlawing slavery in 1999.
Don: Vegetarian jambalaya? Bleh. Defeats the whole purpose of the dish, as far as I'm concerned. It'd be like a tofu steak. You just can't do good creole and cajun food without meat. Sorry.
But, the point to buy fresh, eat fresh, cook as much as you can is good. Cooking's fun, for one (at least I think it is), and it's creative. It's pretty easy to find stuff that's quick to cook and doesn't take much more time than stopping off at the fast food joint on the way home. It usually tastes a hell of a lot better to.
Steve -- perhaps. I just pulled the recipe off of FoodNetwork.com, and I'll be giving it a try Real Soon Now (tm).
Praising McDonald's for this announcement seems akin to praising Mississippi for finally outlawing slavery in 1999
Please. When would you praise McD's?
personally, I truly believe the food that McDonald's et al serve shoud be illegal. I'm not joking either.
AJB
AJB, your comment is scary. Big Brother, eh?
personally, I truly believe the food that McDonald's et al serve shoud be illegal. I'm not joking either.
Please. People have the right to decide to poison themselves if they wish. I'm of the same opinion regarding fast food as I am cigarattes: the companies aren't forcing this stuff down your throat, and anyone who isn't aware of the risks of a cigaratte or a double cheesburger is, quite frankly, a moron who deserves what they get.
Then again, I'm one of those freaks who thinks that drugs should be legalized, taxed and regulated in the same fashion alcohol and tobacco are. Caveat emptor in all things, as far as I'm concerned.
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