Everyone is Freaked Out About Antibiotics in Meat, Even Investors
It turns out that everybody — not just health conscious enviros and animal welfare activists — is concerned about ingesting antibiotics in meat.
The anxiety over antibiotics in meat is even freaking out a bunch of rich money handlers, specifically a group of investment firms in the United Kingdom.
Who are these companies?
Aviva Investors, Strathclyde Pension Fund, and Coller Capital, all high-profile, big-name firms, recently penned a strong-worded letter to fast-food chains that are known for serving less-than-clean meat. The restaurants included in the mailing list were McDonalds, Domino’s, and Burger King — a group of British restaurant companies received the letter, too. “All told, the investment companies that signed the letter control more than a $1 trillion in assets,” Take Part reports.
While the letter was sent last month, The Guardian published the contents of the letter this past Sunday.
The Truth about Antibiotics in Meat
While the message about antibiotics in meat was strongly worded, it wasn’t unreasonable.
“We agree that antibiotics should be used for the treatment of sick animals,” the letter states. “[But] they should not be used to support irresponsible practices such as growth promotion or routine disease prevention of animals kept in closely confined and unsanitary conditions.”
And the investors point to experts who believe “the drugs’ use[ed] in farm animals is linked, via the food chain, to the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections in humans,” The Guardian reports. One such expert, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that antibiotic use in livestock production is contributing to the global threat of a “post-antibiotic era.”
Yikes…
“These large food companies are key ingredients in the portfolios of most of our pensions and savings,” Coller Capital’s Jeremy Coller says. “Thus it is a case of proper risk management to ask them to work out how they will meet this challenge.”
Perfectly worded, Coller. Let’s just hope these restaurants listen.
Related on Organic Authority
Subway Is Latest Chain to Phase Out Antibiotics in Meat
Chipotle May Approve Antibiotics for its ‘Natural’ Meat
Too Many Antibiotics in Your Meat Lands the FDA in Court
Image of kid looking at burger via Shutterstock
