Major fast food and chain restaurants have poor policies about antibiotics, activist report says

While many major corporations have declared efforts to phase out antibiotic use in animals raised for food, most of the top 25 fast food and casual chain restaurants in the U.S. have poor policies when it comes to antibiotics, according to a report and scorecard by consumer, health and environmental groups that gave 20 of the 25 chains a grade of F for their practices, Kate Colwell reports for Friends of the Earth, an environmental organization and one of the groups that helped compile the report.

The report was compiled through a survey that asked businesses about use of antibiotics, transparency, availability of organic meats and grass-fed beef options on their menus and use of hormones and beta-agonists in meat and poultry supplies.

Panera and Chipotle received a grade of A, Chick-fil-A received a B and Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's received a C. Those chains are the "only ones that have adopted publicly available policies that meaningfully limit routine antibiotics use," states the report. "These policies range from strict prohibitions on any antibiotics use (Chick-fil-A), to policies that prohibit use in chicken of antibiotics important in human medicine (McDonald’s). Only Chipotle, Panera, Chick-fil-A and Dunkin’ Donuts have antibiotics use policies that apply to all the meat they serve."

Applebee’s, Arby’s, Burger King, Chili’s, Dairy Queen, Denny’s, Domino’s, IHOP, Jack in the Box, KFC, Little Caesars, Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse Grill and Bar, Papa John’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, Sonic, Starbucks, Subway, Taco Bell and Wendy’s all received a grade of F.