TYSON CHICKEN LINE FREE OF DRUGS;
ANTIBIOTICS PURGE MEETS WITH PRAISE
By David Irvin
Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat producer, won the acclaim of scientists and advocates Tuesday after announcing it stopped feeding antibiotics to millions of chickens.
The Springdale-based company's entire retail fresh chicken line is now raised without the bacteria-killing drugs, a move aimed to respond to consumer demand and slow the further erosion of antibiotic effectiveness, company officials and scientists said.
The second-largest chicken producer in the United States, Tyson converted 20 processing facilities to supply the fresh chicken line. Its retail fresh chicken line alone accounted for more than 10 percent of its $7.9 billion of chicken sales in fiscal 2006.
The new products, labeled "Raised Without Antibiotics," will go on sale this week in grocery stores nationwide.
Tyson's conversion "fulfills an unmet consumer need at a reasonable price," Dave Hogberg, senior vice president of Fresh Meal Solutions for Tyson, said during a news conference in New York.
Ninety-one percent of consumers say it's important for fresh chicken to be raised and labeled "Raised Without Antibiotics," top Tyson officials said Tuesday, citing internal consumer research.
Margaret Mellon, director of the food and environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Washington-based think-tank, applauded Tyson's decision to cut antibiotics out of so many chickens' diets. The Union for Concerned Scientists works to change government policy, corporate practices and consumer choices to foster a healthier world, according to its Web site.
"It's a big step in the right direction, and the company deserves credit," Mellon said in a telephone interview from her Washington office.
The Keep Antibiotics Working Coalition, a Chicago-based advocacy group, praised Tyson's move in a news release distributed Tuesday. In a telephone interview Tuesday, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta called Tyson's move a "step forward."
The Food and Drug Administration reports that antibiotics used in both humans and chickens have become weaker because of growing bacterial resistance through overuse.
Since the mid-20th century, poultry producers have used antibiotics to keep chickens healthy as they matured on tightly packed industrial farms.
Large poultry producers have been quietly scaling back the use of antibiotics for at least five years, but public health experts and scientists push for a wholesale conversion of the industry.
"I think the pressure from consumers, the medical community, and from abroad has made folks see that the days of antibiotic use in animal agriculture are limited," Mellon said. "The smart producers are going to get ahead and figure out how to use fewer or no antibiotics" in consumer products.
Tyson stopped short of saying all its chicken would be converted - its fresh chicken line accounts for just less than half of its poultry production - but it will convert other products this summer, including Deli Rotisserie, Marinated Raw Breaded items and individually quick-frozen chicken.
The antibiotic-free products will cost more to produce, Tyson officials admit, but they will also command a premium at market.
Hogberg said a typical chicken breast produced without antibiotics costs $1.50 to $2 more per pound at the retail level, though Tyson's chicken would sell "significantly" below those averages and beat the established niche players on price.
Tyson Chief Executive Officer Richard Bond said the new line would positively affect the company's bottom line, but he didn't say when that could happen.
So far Tyson has made no plans to eliminate antibiotics from its food-service products, but if the products are demanded in restaurants, "we will be in position to do that," Hogberg said.
Before the announcement, investor speculation caused an uptick in Tyson stock options activity Monday, Reuters reported. Tyson shares fell 12 cents, or 0.52 percent, to finish at $22.96 in Tuesday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
This article was published 06/20/2007Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
