What people are doing to convince McDonald’s to ‘hold the antibiotics’

It’s been seven years since McDonald’s initially committed to reduce the use of antibiotics in their beef supply, and the company has yet to make substantial progress towards their pledge. This lack of action has consumer advocates and public health experts alike concerned about the efficacy of life-saving antibiotics.

That’s why, in 2023, PIRG mobilized public support, delivering over 10,000 signatures to McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski, demanding accountability and achievable, concrete goals to be set. At that meeting over 16% of shareholders agreed to support antibiotic reduction. 

Certainly not a majority, but a promising start. 

As this article is being published, McDonald’s is preparing for its annual shareholder meeting. PIRG is preparing to deliver petitions signed by more than 13,000 consumers urging the company to honor its commitment to act with greater urgency in protecting our life-saving antibiotics.

By acting now we can urge McDonald’s to set clear, measurable and time bound targets.  McDonald’s must also commit to transparency by collecting antibiotic use data and sharing it directly with the public. 

Antibiotics will only remain effective if we use them properly 

Why is it so crucial that the livestock industry that McDonald’s purchases meat from stops overusing antibiotics? 

Antibiotics are one of modern medicine’s greatest breakthroughs, making many infections less severe, and surgical procedures far less risky. But today, in the United States, nearly two-thirds of antibiotics are not used in hospitals, pharmacies or doctor’s offices. They are instead fed in bulk to livestock, treating animals that often aren’t even sick. 

Healthy livestock are regularly administered antibiotics to try and make up for unsanitary, overcrowded conditions common in modern industrial farming. The more antibiotics are used, the less effective they become, because bacteria evolve rapidly, quickly developing resistances to the drugs designed to kill them.

We’ve now entered a period in which the rate that antibiotics become impotent outpaces the rate at which drug companies develop new antibiotics to replace them. This is resulting in the creation of “superbugs”, highly drug resistant bacteria that are no longer neutralized by once effective antibiotics. 

The continuous overuse of antibiotics in livestock is a leading cause of developing antibiotic resistant bacteria and creates an increased risk of deadly infections.

A looming global health crisis

The impact of antibiotic resistance is already profound and growing worse. In the United States alone, antibiotic-resistant infections affect more than 2.8 million people annually, resulting in at least 35,000 deaths. 

And the situation is expected to worsen dramatically. By 2050, experts project that antibiotic-resistant infections could become deadlier than cancer than cancer was in 2020, causing two million deaths annually worldwide. Between now and 2050, estimates assert that drug-resistant diseases could directly kill 39 million people and indirectly contribute to 169 million more deaths.

Clearly, antibiotics are too vital to human health to be wasted propping up harmful farming practices. And that’s where major food companies like McDonald’s need to step in. 

McDonald’s failed commitments 

McDonald’s — one of the largest purchasers of beef in the United States — has immense power to address this issue. Recognizing its responsibility, McDonald’s made a public commitment in 2018 to significantly reduce the routine use of antibiotics in its beef supply. This was a promising step forward.

But since making that commitment, McDonald’s has faltered repeatedly. Initially, the company promised to establish baseline data on antibiotic use and reduction targets by 2020, a crucial first step toward meaningful reduction. McDonald’s missed that deadline. Then, in 2022, it revised its stance, committing only to “responsible antibiotic use,” a vague and weaker goal lacking concrete timelines and clear accountability.

Even this commitment proved problematic. McDonald’s promised to gather and share baseline data in 2023, but failed again, missing the only deadline it actually set.

Now, consumers are stepping up, urging McDonald’s executives to honor the company’s original promise and implement concrete, transparent plans to phase out routine antibiotic use in beef production.

Consumer demand can create positive change

Public support for this initiative is strong, bolstered by previous success stories. Consumer pressure and public advocacy in the 2010s led the poultry industry to drastically reduce antibiotic use. Between 2017 and 2023, antibiotic use in poultry production dropped by 43%, clearly demonstrating that significant reductions are achievable without harming business.

McDonald’s was an industry leader during this moment, significantly reducing the use of medically important antibiotics in their poultry supply in just two years. So we know they can do it. 

Outside of the U.S., Europe has taken meaningful steps towards reducing its antibiotics usage. Over just ten years, European nations cut antibiotic usage in livestock in half through firm policy and commitments from food producers. These actions didn’t harm the industry’s viability but instead protected vital medicines, improved animal welfare and addressed important public health concerns.

Similar progress in the U.S. beef industry isn’t just possible — it’s overwhelmingly popular. In 2021, two-thirds of surveyed Americans consumers stated that buying meat labeled “antibiotic free” was important to them. That same year more than 125 health professionals wrote Mcdonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski, expressing their serious concerns about the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture. There is clear, vocal support from both the general public, and medical experts concerned for the public’s health.

Other companies have already begun to phase out antibiotics in their beef supply. For instance, Shake Shack has a firm no antibiotics policy throughout its supply chain, ensuring that its beef, pork and poultry all come from responsible suppliers. 

McDonald’s upcoming shareholders meeting 

McDonald’s massive purchasing power and its previous leadership in transforming poultry production demonstrates its unique capability to shape industry-wide practices.

McDonald’s can help halt the dangerous rise of antibiotic resistance diseases, safeguarding public health and demonstrating corporate responsibility. The alternative, a future where common infections again become deadly, is unacceptable.

One of our most effective medical tools could soon become obsolete; This is a global health crisis, one that could result in millions of unnecessary additional deaths in the coming decades. 

The time for promises without action has passed. McDonald’s must fulfill its commitment to reduce antibiotic usage in its beef supply, and protect public health 

Take action today, and urge McDonald’s to stop buying from beef suppliers that won’t stop the routine use of antibiotics.