Here's the Latest Chain to Go Antibiotics-Free

Subway plans to be antibiotics-free by 2025
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 20, 2015 3:38 PM CDT
Here's the Latest Chain to Go Antibiotics-Free
This photo taken Aug. 11, 2009 shows a chicken breast sandwich from a Subway restaurant in New York.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Subway said Tuesday that it plans to switch to meat raised without antibiotics over the next several years. The announcement comes after the company was targeted by advocacy groups calling for the change, with a coalition planning to deliver petitions to Subway's headquarters on Thursday. The sandwich chain had said this summer that it would start switching to chicken raised without antibiotics important to human medicine by next year. Now, it says it will serve chicken that receive no antibiotics starting in March 2016. It will also make the change to turkey starting sometime next year, with a transition expected to be complete within two to three years. Pork and beef raised without antibiotics will follow within six years after that, or by 2025, the company says.

Subway said its announcement was the "culmination of several months of intensive work with suppliers" and that it is proud to finally be in a position to share its plans. It said the decision was not a reaction to any campaign, and that it continually works on improving its menu. The announcement comes as multiple groups including Natural Resources Defense Council, Friends of the Earth, the Center for Food Safety, US Public Interest Research Group, and food blogger Vani Hari had campaigned to get Subway to commit to buying meat produced without the routine use of antibiotics, and provide a timeline for doing so. Chipotle and Panera already say they serve meat raised without antibiotics, and McDonald's said earlier this year it would make the switch for its chicken. (More Subway stories.)

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