Not in My Food.org : Know what you're eating
Meat without Drugs
Many dangerous strains of bacteria are now resistant to most common antibiotics. Yet we continue to saturate our environment with antibiotics to promote the growth of livestock raised in crowded and unsanitary conditions. We must preserve our antibiotics, while improving life for our animals.
Press Releases
- New bill would require disclosure of antibiotics used in meat production
Rep. Henry Waxman plans to introduce bill that would provide new information to the FDA on use of antibiotics in food animals.
- Nearly 560,000 Call on Trader Joe’s to Stop Selling Meat Raised on Antibiotics
CU hosts press event at Union Square flagship store to deliver petition signatures to the grocer
- Meat Without Drugs campaign targets new Trader Joe’s stores
Consumers Union urges the grocery store to sell only meat and poultry raised without antibiotics
- Consumers Union rebuts meat industry letter on Meat Without Drugs campaign
Letter to two Congressional committees refutes industry claims about Consumers Union’s recently released report and campaign.
- Consumer Reports releases “Meat On Drugs” study; Consumers Union launches marketplace campaign
Report offers details on national supermarket chains that sell meat raised without antibiotics, a consumer poll on the issue and recommendations for shoppers. New campaign, “Meat Without Drugs” asks grocery retailer Trader Joe’s to only source meat raised without antibiotics.
- CU letter to USDA expresses concern about confusing claims about antibiotics on meat packages
June 18, 2012 Tom Vilsack, Secretary Kathleen Merrigan, Deputy Secretary US Department of Agriculture 1400 Independence Avenue SW Washington, DC 20250 Dear Secretary Vilsack and Deputy Secretary Merrigan: Consumer Reports and its advocacy arm, Consumers Union, have recently conducted a shopping scan of labels on more than 1,000 packages of meat from stores across the Continue Reading
- Consumers Union on FDA Guidance for Antibiotics in Animal Feed
Expresses disappointment at new guidelines that are voluntary for the meat industry
Blog Posts
- Trader Joe’s, we’re not feeling the love
Trader Joe’s: we’ve got a message for you this Valentine’s Day. Your customers tell us they love you for a lot of reasons. Your salsa. Your trek mix. Your kid-sized shopping carts. One cat even says he loves your reusable shopping bags. But love and hate make up any relationship – and they hate that Continue Reading
- On Chinese hog farms, antibiotic resistance is ‘diverse and abundant’
Antibiotics in China’s livestock: widely used and largely unmonitored. A new study out today in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences tested manure, compost and soil at three large-scale commercial hog farms in China (10,000+ pigs), finding not only antibiotic residues but widespread antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In fact, bacteria tested showed resistance to every Continue Reading
- Antibiotics use in meat production continues to go up, up up
New data out this week from the FDA points to an ever-increasing amount of antibiotics sold in the US for livestock, now up to 29.9 million pounds annually. Antibiotics for humans, however, continued to stay constant at about 7.7 million pounds. A great infographic by Pew Charitable Trusts includes this chart of livestock vs. human Continue Reading
- Pork under fire? We agree.
Consumers Union has the pork industry “on the spit” according to meat industry mag Meatingplace, which cites Consumer Reports’ recent expose on pork products that harbored bacteria, many of which proved resistant to one or more types of antibiotics. The article, titled “Pork Under Fire,” says that between Consumers Union pointing to the problems with Continue Reading
- Why Trader Joe’s? Why now?
Consumers Union has taken a stand against the overuse of antibiotics in livestock production for decades – about 40 years, in fact. In that time however, we’ve seen little action by regulatory agencies or lawmakers to curb this practice that is increasingly contributing to the problem of antibiotic resistance. In light of that, Consumers Union Continue Reading
- Get your resolution on: say no to meat on drugs
Making resolutions for 2013? How about one that’s good for you, good for public health, and easy to keep past January? This year say, “No more!” to meat raised with antibiotics. You can do it! As Consumer Reports found in a study released last year, meat raised without antibiotics is now available at most grocery Continue Reading
- Delivering our holiday wish to Trader Joe’s, Christmas carol style
The tune was Jingle Bells, but the lyrics weren’t quite the same: Trader Joe’s, Trader Joe’s We want meat without drugs Antibiotics on the farm Lead to superbu—uugs! Trader Joe’s, Trader Joe’s Come on – see the light Take a stand for human health Its time to do what’s right Christmas carolers joined Meat Without Continue Reading
- Pork Production Must Address Safety Issues
by Jean Halloran, Director, Food Policy Initiatives, Consumers Union Consumers Union thinks government regulators and pork producers need to take some additional steps to insure the safety of pork. Last month, Consumer Reports released a major new study on the safety of pork that found that 69 precent of the pork chops and ground pork tested contained Yersinia Continue Reading
- Consumer Reports finds antibiotic-resistant bacteria in pork
A new Consumer Reports study released today warns shoppers that they may be getting more than they bargain for in their packages of pork. Tests of pork chops and ground pork found widespread contamination by several different bacteria, much of which showed resistance to one or more antibiotics used in human medicine. The study points Continue Reading
- Talking turkey to Trader Joe’s
It’s been several months since we first asked Trader Joe’s to be a public health leader and stop selling meat raised on antibiotics. But so far the company has refused to meet with us, and continues to fall back on the argument that they give shoppers a choice of meats (which misses the point). Continue Reading
News Articles
- Report on U.S. Meat Sounds Alarm on Resistant Bacteria Source: New York Times (Tuesday April 16, 2013)
- Antibiotics and the Meat We Eat Source: New York Times (Thursday March 28, 2013)
- Doctors call for ban on using antibiotics for animal growth Source: Shoreline Beacon (Wednesday March 20, 2013)
- Are superbugs linked to the meat you eat? Source: Fox News (Thursday March 14, 2013)
- Antibiotics, animals and us Source: LA Times (Thursday February 28, 2013)
- Consumers More Interested in Antibiotic-Free Meat Source: Supermarket News (Tuesday February 26, 2013)
- We Need Meat Without Drugs Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (Saturday February 23, 2013)
- FDA Data: Slight Uptick in Animal Antibiotic Use, Resistance Remains Issue in Meat Source: Food Safety News (Wednesday February 6, 2013)
- The Future of Antibiotics and Resistance Source: New England Journal of Medicine (Thursday January 24, 2013)
- Are There Too Many Antibiotics In Meat At Your Market? Source: CBS (Bay Area) (Thursday December 20, 2012)