Superbugs in Stock: Grocery Chains are Not Giving Enough to Stop Antibiotic Overuse

By Steve Roach, Safe and Healthy Food Program Director.

I attended a talk this week by Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Califf. When I asked him about antibiotic resistance related to animal agriculture, he said this was an issue where everyone needs to give a little bit. He mentioned doctors, drug makers, and farmers as needing to be part of the solution. People that sell food also need to do their part. That’s why Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT) and some of our allies in the Antibiotics Off the Menu Coalition decided to score the twelve largest U.S. grocery chains on their policies on antibiotic use by their meat suppliers. FACT along with World Animal Protection, U.S. PIRG Education Fund, Antibiotic Resistance Action Center, and the Center for Food Safety surveyed these grocers and then based on their responses and other publicly available information scored them on their policies. We reported our results in the first ever Superbugs in Stock report. We were looking for policies that prohibit the use of medically important antibiotics for routine disease prevention (using the drugs in animals that are not sick or injured) and for efforts to track how much antibiotics are used to produce the meat these stores sell. We focused on the store’s own brands of fresh meat since this is where they have the most control.

Clearly these giant grocery chains are not “giving enough” to use Dr. Califf’s euphemism. Eight of the twelve received “F”s and no company got higher than a “C.” Target and Ahold Delhaize (owner of the Food Lion, Giant, and Stop & Shop brands) stand out as leaders in the sector getting “C” and “C-“ grades for policies prohibiting routine preventive use. Target received additional points for requiring tracking of use by its suppliers. Still it is not clear how much of the meat sold by either company actually complies with the company polices.

The rampant overuse of antibiotics leads to the spread of resistant superbugs that cause more people to get sick, become hospitalized, and die from common infections -- up to 160,000 U.S. deaths each year. As big buyers of meat, grocers need to do more to make sure the meat they sell is not contributing to this serious health threat.

Consumers can purchase meat raised without routine antibiotics, demand that these big grocery chains adopt policies restricting the overuse of antibiotics, and sign up and take action on antibiotic overuse using FACT’s action center.

That brings us back to the FDA and Dr. Califf. The FDA like the big grocery chains is not “giving enough”. FDA has stalled on taking action since about 2017. FDA should support a national target for reducing antibiotic overuse, prohibit the routine use of antibiotics in food animals including limiting how long they can be used, and create a system to collect data on antibiotic use on farms.