Burger King Vows To Switch To Antibiotic-Free Chicken

Burger King and its sister company Tim Horton's will be following in the footsteps of many other major chain restaurants by starting to cut out antibiotics. The parent company, Restaurant Brands International Inc., has vowed to phase out antibiotics in chicken by 2017 for the United States and by 2018 for Canada.

"We believe that it is important to reduce the use of antibiotics important for human medicine in order to preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics in both veterinary and human medicine," Restaurant Brands Inc. said in a statement.

Scientists have for years been warning livestock farmers and food producers that using antibiotics in cows and chickens would result in seriously detrimental antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that at least 2 million people in the U.S. are infected with drug-resistant bacteria annually and 23,000 die as a result.