US chicken giant Tyson to cut antibiotics by 2017

Tyson Foods, the largest US poultry producer, announced Tuesday that it plans to eliminate human antibiotics from its broiler chickens in US farms by late 2017.

The move comes after an increasing number of fast food chains, including Chik-Fil-A and McDonald's, have moved to eliminate chickens fed with human antibiotics from their menus, and a key Tyson competitor Purdue also moved to end general use of the drugs on poultry flocks.

Tyson said it had already halted the use of all antibiotics in its 35 broiler hatcheries, and had cut back the use of human antibiotics for treating broiler chickens by 80 percent since 2011.

"Antibiotic-resistant infections are a global health concern," said Tyson president and chief executive Donnie Smith.

"We're confident our meat and poultry products are safe, but want to do our part to responsibly reduce human antibiotics on the farm so these medicines can continue working when they’re needed to treat illness."

Tyson said it will "strive" to bring the use on broiler chickens down to zero by September 2017, and that is working with farmers to cut the use of human antibiotics on cows, pigs and turkeys as well.

The US food industry has come under mounting pressure from health officials to reduce the general application of human antibiotics in livestock, especially on animals that are not sick.

Health officials say it contributes to the rise of highly resistant "superbugs" that render antibiotics ineffective for treating disease.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug-resistant bacteria kill 23,000 people a year in the United States.

Last month President Barack Obama called the problem "one of the most pressing public health issues facing the world today."