'Quit Using Antibiotics!' McDonald's Investors Push Fast Food Giant To Change Its Standards

McDonald's shareholders are not too pleased with news of the Golden Arches' antibiotics use. The Daily Meal recently reported on a study from Friends of the Earth, which graded fast food and fast casual restaurants on their antibiotics use.

Although McDonald's was one of the five chains that passed, the fast food giant barely squeaked by with a C. Shareholders have since filed a proposal requesting a ban on "antibiotics used for human medicine across all meats, not just chicken, as a sign of the company's commitment to promote public health."

"McDonald's recently updated its policy to procure only chickens raised without antibiotics used to treat humans, which we roundly applauded as an important step forward in sustainable meat production and an acknowledgement that it understands the damage overexposure to antibiotics has on public health," said Sr. Susan Mika of the Congregation of Benedictine Sisters of Boerne, Texas. "But, we question why this important commitment isn't also being applied to the beef and pork it sources, as hamburgers are a mainstay of McDonald's business. This double-standard makes no sense to us."

Legislation currently making the rounds in Congress, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, would ban non-therapeutic use of "medically important antibiotics," is currently being stalled by pharmaceutical and agricultural lobbyist groups.