The researchers tested animals from 33 “raised without antibiotics” certified feed yards at a single undisclosed US slaughterhouse between February and September 2021. During that time, the slaughterhouse processed more than 38,000 cattle from those feed yards, and researchers randomly selected the animals to test . The cattle that tested positive for antibiotics came from 14 of the 33 feed yards.
“None of the cattle should have tested positive,” says Lance Price, PhD, director of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at George Washington University, and a co-author of the study. Several feed yards met that standard all or most of the time , but in three of the yards, all of the cattle tested positive, he says.
To use a “no antibiotic” claim—such as “raised without antibiotics” or “no antibiotics ever”—on meat packages, companies must submit their label and supporting documentation to the Food Safety and Inspection Service, a branch of the Department of Agriculture . A USDA spokesperson told Consumer Reports that it verifies documentation provided by farmers seeking approval to use the claim, and that “labels may be rescinded if there is evidence that the statement is not truthful.”
But companies have to submit that documentation only once, and the USDA doesn’t do its own inspections that the animals were, in fact, not given antibiotics, says James E. Rogers, PhD, director of food safety and testing at CR.
“The program runs on the honor system,” he says. “Farmers are supposed to treat sick animals with antibiotics when necessary, but those animals are then supposed to be removed from the herd and sold as conventional cattle. They also aren’t supposed to put animals that are routinely fed antibiotics to prevent disease into beef destined for the ‘no antibiotics market.’ This study suggests that that doesn’t always happen.”
The lack of independent verification is the reason stand-alone “no antibiotics” claims received a Poor rating in CR’s Food Label Guide to Seals and Claims.
Price believes the USDA should develop a program where cattle raised without antibiotics are tested, so the claim can be verified. “If the USDA isn’t going to test, then the retailers that are making a big markup on these products have to do it,” he says.
“In a transparent system where there’s regular testing, farmers are not going to take a chance on pushing those animals through,” Price says. “But in a system where it’s all based on a signature and a handshake, I think the financial incentives are hard to overcome.”
Ethan Lane, vice president of governmental affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a trade group, says its members are “committed to the judicious use of antimicrobial drugs.” He adds that the NCBA believes “it is important that cattle producers are adhering to requirements set forward by USDA for labeling claims such as ‘raised without antibiotics’ or others.”
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