As of this week, all Perdue Farms chicken products in Chicago will be sold under the claim “No Antibiotics Ever,” a subtle shift in the grocery store that represents a harbinger of large-scale change coming to the chicken industry.
The announcement — also relevant to markets in Denver, Minneapolis, St. Louis and Milwaukee — is another step in Maryland-based Perdue’s yearslong quest to rid its birds of antibiotics, a process that’s ruffled some feathers along the way. For decades, antibiotics have been used in the industry to stave off sickness and fatten up birds. But such use on animals can render humans more vulnerable to bacteria, health experts have warned. The chicken business appears headed toward a future with less antibiotic use and, eventually, more profits.
Perdue’s larger rivals such as Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride also have set goals for reducing antibiotic use on animals. About half the chicken industry has eliminated the use of antibiotics that are medically important to humans, a fraction that’s expected to grow, according to the National Chicken Council.
“I think we were taken aback a little by how big this became,” said Jim Perdue, chairman of Perdue, in a recent interview. “We work with Chick-Fil-A for example. We supplied them. … And then McDonald’s announced, and then Subway announced, and it’s like the cage-free thing — it’s like dominoes.”
Perdue is not increasing prices as a result of this shift, said spokeswoman Andrea Staub.
But in general, chicken marketed as being raised with “no antibiotics ever” is more expensive than conventional chicken but cheaper than organic, a certification with more stringent requirements such as ensuring the birds have year-round access to the outdoors.
Though subject to fluctuation, the average price for an antibiotic-free chicken breast is $4.99 a pound, compared with $1.99 a pound for a conventionally raised bird, according to Tom Super, spokesman for the National Chicken Council, citing data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Like most other suppliers, Perdue still treats sick birds with antibiotics, a practice commonly endorsed by health experts and animal welfare activists alike. Those birds, which now represent only about 5 percent of all Perdue chickens produced, are sold separately either through private label brands or food service, Staub said.
From a public health perspective, the concern is more about bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics used for humans. Technically speaking, Super said, all chicken sold in stores is antibiotic-free because it is required by federal law to be free of any antibiotic residue before landing in shopping carts.
But any reduction in unnecessary antibiotic use is meaningful for public health, said Karin Hoelzer, an officer in health programs with the Pew Charitable Trusts. When bacteria are exposed to antibiotics, they can develop resistance that can be passed to other bacteria.
“What Perdue has done is changing a lot of things. … They’ve made tremendous strides in managing the health of the animals with minimal use of antibiotics,” Hoelzer said.
That change hasn’t come easy, though. Since beginning its odyssey in 2002, Perdue occasionally has clashed with animal welfare groups and, at times, its own farmers. That’s all been part of the learning process, said Bruce Stewart-Brown, senior vice president of food safety, quality and live production for Perdue.
“It’s an initiative that never ends. Every year, we’re going to say what we learned … and bring up new things we’re headed for,” Stewart-Brown said. “People will see something new from us every year.”
In 2006, the company stopped using antibiotics for growth promotion, then more recently, removed them from the hatcheries and changed the chicken feed to an all-vegetarian diet. In 2011, Perdue acquired Coleman Natural Foods, an organic chicken supplier, an important relationship that taught Perdue new ways of raising birds, Stewart-Brown said.
But some say those advancements outpaced progress on improving the living conditions of the chickens. In 2014, Craig Watts, a North Carolina contract farmer for Perdue, allowed the nonprofit Compassion in World Farming to film his barns after watching what he felt were misleading promotional materials. The Watts video, which shows crowded barns full of sick birds, triggered a glut of media reaction.
When Perdue was phasing out antibiotics from its hatcheries, Watts said he routinely received sick chicks to raise because of their vulnerability to unsanitary conditions. Last year, though, Watts said the quality of chicks was much better because of improvements in the hatcheries.
Stewart-Brown said many factors could have contributed to the sick chicks, including the fact that Perdue was in the process of changing to different breeds of bird.
There is no love lost between Watts and Perdue.
Perdue has accused Watts of deliberately withholding care of his chickens in order to defame the company. Watts, who quit chicken farming for Perdue in January after more than 23 years, sees it differently.
Perdue is profiting off a public health crisis that it and other chicken suppliers helped create by using antibiotics to promote growth in the first place, Watts said.
“They’re the head of the lot, but that’s like saying they’re the nicest guy in jail,” Watts said of Perdue. “It don’t mean a lot.”
Other former adversaries have come around in support of Perdue. In 2014, Perdue removed the marketing claim “Humanely Raised” from its line of Harvestland products — even while denying wrongdoing — as part of a legal settlement with the Humane Society of the United States, which had sued, alleging Perdue’s label was misleading.
But in June, Perdue announced a new animal welfare plan, which Paul Shapiro, vice president of farm animal protection for the Humane Society praised as “precedent setting.” The plan calls for increasing natural sunlight and giving the birds more “enrichment” structures in the chicken houses, among other things.
Likewise, Leah Garces, USA executive director of Compassion in World Farming, the group that filmed the not-so-flattering video on the Watts farm, called Perdue’s plan “a huge step forward.”
Removing antibiotics has been a catalyst for improving the living conditions of farm animals, Garces said. Within the chicken industry, all eyes are on Perdue to see how far the company changes its practices and how consumers respond to that massive undertaking.
“People aren’t going to care less in 10 years about the welfare of farm animals,” Garces said.
There’s also plenty of money to be made. Chicken marketed as “natural” or “antibiotic-free” represented about $1.7 billion in retail sales in the 12-month period ending June 12, an increase of 30.4 percent from the same period a year ago, according to data from Chicago-based market research firm IRI, whose figures do not include Costco.
During that same time period, natural/antibiotic-free chicken sold on average for about $1.65 less per pound than organic, according to the IRI data.
For shoppers wary of antibiotics in their meat but unable to afford organic, chicken sold under the “No Antibiotics Ever” claim presents an appealing option, said Paul Vassilakis, meat buyer for Pete’s Fresh Market.
“For me, I have five kids, I can’t afford to buy organic chicken. The average customer can’t,” Vassilakis said.
Twitter @GregTrotterTrib
