There’s a new addition for your list of good food you should be eating, it’s not just free range, organic or RSPCA assured anymore. The country’s biggest pork supplier is now producing antibiotic free meat.
What is antibiotic free meat?
This is Karro Food Group’s progressive move to do their part to tackle rising antibiotic resistance. In case you didn’t know, the prolific use of antibiotics by all of us and that we give to livestock will make superbugs that will be immune to antibiotics.
These superbugs would prove difficult to treat and potentially fatal, therefore, antibiotic free meat could be an aid to this increasing worry of a post-antibiotic age. Some farmers already try to reduce the risk of illness and disease to prevent needing to use antibiotics.
Where can I buy antibiotic free meat?
They supply meat to brands such as Key Country Foods, which can be found in all major supermarkets, and Cookstown which is stocked in ASDA, so it shouldn't break the bank.
So for the moral shoppers we know you all are look out for the newly registered logo of a pig’s head with the word’s ‘Antibiotic Free’ overhead. You’ll be protecting yourself and supporting the minimal use of antibiotics on livestock.
Also, if you're ever in the US McDonald's, Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, Subway and Wendy's refuse to serve meat that has been treated antibiotics - which is an excellent excuse for a hangover double cheeseburger.
Karro Food Group will now only be using antibiotics to treat infection but they will not be sold as part of their antibiotic free range. In The Grocer magazine they said ‘We are proud to boast an antibiotic free herd from which we supply meat to markets.’
Is antibiotic free meat better?
This is good news for all of us, health campaigners and medical association’s as the NHS reported that in the US 70% of antibiotics that are medically important for humans are used in animals.
Antibiotic free meat is better because it will avoid creating superbugs that would enter the food chain. It would be incredibly difficult to treat any resistant bacterias. It's thought that antibiotic resistant forms of E.Coli and salmonella already contribute to those it proves fatal to.
Earlier this year, a report was released saying the British Poultry Council got their antibiotic use down by 44% between 2012 and 2015 so Karra Food Group could be setting a trend for antibiotic free meat which is good for the environment because it reduces animal waste that could contain undigested antibiotics leaving traces in water, which would come back around to us.
Antibiotic free meat is also a step up from an EU law from 2006 that made it illegal to keep using antibiotics as growth promoters that farmers would use on their livestock. Now you can only use them to as a preventative measure for infections which helps the animals because it lets them live healthier and more natural lives.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.