For more than a decade consumer advocates and government regulators grew increasingly
concerned about the widespread use of antibiotics to treat disease in animals raised for
meat, milk, and eggs. The problem was that this practice contributed to the emergence
of antibiotic-resistant germs that then went on to infect humans. In 2013, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 2 million Americans fell ill, and at least
23,000 died, because of antibiotic-resistant infections. “Up to half of antibiotic use in
humans and much of the antibiotic use in animals in unnecessary and inappropriate and
makes everyone less safe,” said a representative of the Centers for Disease Control.
As public concern grew, many companies responded. In 2014, Perdue, one of America’s largest poultry producers, announced that it would no longer use antibiotics in its egg
hatcheries, completing a phase out program begun in the mid-2000s. Tyson Foods, another
large American poultry producer, announced in 2015 that it would eliminate the use of
human antibiotics in its chicken production by 2017. This announcement came 1 month
after McDonald’s, one of Tyson’s largest customers, said it would no longer accept chickenstreated with antibiotics. Foster Farms, another major U.S. poultry producer, also agreed
to ban the use of antibiotics and pledged to introduce a line of organic poultry products.
“Our company is committed to responsible growing practices that help preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics for human health and medicine,” said Foster Farms’ chief executive
Ron Foster.1
In this case, consumers’ and government agencies’ growing concerns about the overuse
of antibiotics led food producers to take positive action. This will likely improve people’s
health and benefit companies by increasing sales. Yet, as this chapter will show, companies
often ignore or mismanage public issu