Delivered Right to KFC’s Doorstep

Antibiotic resistance is quickly becoming public enemy number one according to health experts worldwide. That’s why this summer our staff and volunteers have been going door-to-door all across the state talking to Californians about our campaign to get Kentucky Fried Chicken to drop chicken raised on routine antibiotics.

 Most industrial farms administer antibiotics routinely to otherwise healthy animals to make them grow faster and to prevent disease brought on by unsanitary conditions. That practice fuels the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which claim at least 23,000 lives per year in our country.

Although a growing list of restaurant chains have responded to consumer demand for meat raised without routine antibiotics—including McDonald’s, Subway, Chick-fil-A, and Taco Bell—KFC lags behind.

This past week we made sure that KFC heard our message loud and clear. Our staff and volunteers went to KFC restaurants in San Diego, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, and the San Francisco Bay Area and delivered a petition with over 9,000 signatures from concerned Californians, calling on the Colonel of fried chicken to stop serving meat raised with antibiotic overuse. 

At the news event in San Diego, Jackie Salinas (bottom photo), put it best, “KFC shouldn’t chicken out on taking this step to save antibiotics.”

These events not only got KFC’s attention but also drew interest from several TV and print news outlets.

Later this week, we will build on this momentum by taking the petition signatures collected by all the state PIRGs – more than 87,000 total – and hand delivering them to KFC headquarters in Louisville, KY. And we won’t stop there. We’ll continue to keep the pressure on until KFC does the right thing for public health.

Stay tuned for more updates to come.