On the brink of the antibiotic-resistance crisis across the globe, Consumers International (CI) announced "Antibiotics Off The Menu" as the theme for this year's the World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD). The campaign urges consumers to exercise their purchasing decision to defend their rights to consume healthy and safe food by expressing noticeably their demand to stop consuming food produced from animals routinely given antibiotics used in human medicine.
Supporting this global initiative, the Consumer Council joined hands with 35 other consumer organisations to call on the 3 leading international fast food chains, namely McDonald's, Subway and KFC, to phase out sourcing and serving food produced from animals routinely given antibiotics. In addition to the 3 international chains, the Council also issued letters to 6 local fast food chains. Together these nine chain restaurants have more than 800 shops in Hong Kong.
As witnessed in the international chain restaurants' responses, their commitment is regrettably inadequate. The pace of the actions taken to phase out serving food produced from animals routinely given antibiotics has been slow, while coverage of these actions and the types of food are incomplete. Both the Council and CI expressed disappointment, as these actions can hardly provide sufficient protection to consumers all around the globe.
Among the international chains, the policy and action timetable announced by Subway is relatively better defined. The chain will serve meals made with chicken raised without antibiotics by the end of this year in the US, followed by antibiotics-free turkey available in 2019. Pork and beef raised without antibiotics will also be offered in 2025. The chain indicated that these changes hoped to be rolled out in New Zealand and eventually internationally. However, the rollout timeline is left not definite.
McDonald's has put in place a global policy regarding the use of antibiotics in food animals 13 years ago. However, the sourcing of antibiotics-free ingredients would not be implemented in the US and Canada until 2017/18, and it will cover chicken only.
KFC has responded with a general statement that the company's procurement policy is in full compliance of the local laws and regulations in different jurisdictions where it operates. KFC has failed to commit to any concrete actions leaving its corporate social responsibility unfulfilled.
The Council and CI opined that multinational fast food chains, leveraging their international procurement power, are in strong position to influence suppliers and agricultural producers to reduce or even stop routinely giving the animals antibiotics used in human medicine. Meanwhile, the international chains should align and expand the global purchasing policies as soon as possible to avoid creating an impression of giving lip service.
In Hong Kong, the Council wrote and invited 9 fast food chains at the end of last year to meet and urged them to devise a transparent procurement policy to phase out the routine use of antibiotics used in human medicine across all meat and poultry served to consumers. They were also urged to adopt third-party audit to monitor progress and report status to the general public regularly.
Among the 9 fast food chains, Yoshinoya, Tsui Wah Restaurant and Subway have neither accepted the Council's invitation to meet nor provided response. The Council is deeply disappointed and stressed that the catering industry is obliged to serve safe and healthy food to consumers.
The Council has so far received replies from 6 chain restaurants.
- Fairwood showed deep concern about food safety and stated that they have been reviewing their policies on procurement and the usage of meats without antibiotics.
- Tai Hing responded that the company has communicated with meat suppliers to understand measures that could be implemented and the company has also encouraged suppliers to reduce or even stop using antibiotics in livestock-keeping.
- Maxim's MX said the company would re-examine the use of antibiotics by suppliers. Some of the company's restaurants are using meat produced from animals raised with the practice of using less antibiotics.
- Café de Coral said the company's procurement policy complies with local regulations.
- McDonald's referred to its global policy released in 2003. The company also declared compliance of food ingredients imported into Hong Kong with both regulations of the importing and manufacturing countries.
- KFC responded that the company would follow parent company's policy and has reflected the issue to its headquarters.
The Council opined that although there is no concrete measure nor timetable mentioned in the responses of the local chain restaurants, it is still a step forward as some of the chain restaurants have expressed concern and these chain restaurants have started to review and adjust their procurement policies. For those are still examining their policies, the Council is keen to see their public pledge either locally or globally, with concrete policies, action plans and timetable to assure consumer's confidence in visiting. For those chains restaurants that are satisfied with barely fulfilling legislative requirement, the Council asks the companies to take responsible actions the soonest.
Many chain restaurants have emphasized that their procurement policies are in compliance with local laws and regulations relevant. However, proper use of antibiotics is not well-defined in current regulations, therefore, issues aroused from excessive use of antibiotics in livestock-keeping are left unanswered. To improve the overall quality of meat and poultry sold in Hong Kong, the Council urges the Government to promptly review related regulations to tighten the control over excessive use of antibiotics when raising food animals.
About Antibiotic Resistance
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) have defined antibiotic resistance as a global health risk and a global risk. The WHO warns that if no further action is taken globally, the world will head towards a "post-antibiotic era", in which what are now commonly curable infections or minor injuries will become fatal. According to data quoted by the WEF, it is estimated that antibiotic-resistant infections result in more than 200,000 deaths a year in the US, Mainland China and Europe in total. Additional medical costs to the US health care system from antibiotic resistant infections are estimated at from US$21 to 34 billion a year.
Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria change in ways to become resistant to the antibiotics which they are previously sensitive to. The long-term overuse of antibiotics accelerates the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria. When bacteria become resistant to most commonly used antibiotics, they are commonly referred as "superbugs". Resistant bacteria could be spread to humans through various means, for instance, through handling or eating contaminated food, through the environment, or through direct contact with infected animals.
Both CI and the Council are not pushing for an absolute end to the use of antibiotics for food animals. In fact, antibiotics can be used under the supervision of veterinary surgeons and in veterinary medicines to treat sick animals, but they should never be used for growth promotion or routine disease prevention.
The Consumer Council reserves all its right (including copyright) in respect of CHOICE magazine and Online CHOICE.