{"id":1408,"date":"2022-04-06T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farmforward1.wpengine.com\/?p=1408"},"modified":"2022-11-22T01:38:11","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T01:38:11","slug":"more-drugs-found-in-antibiotic-free-meat-certified-by-global-animal-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/news\/more-drugs-found-in-antibiotic-free-meat-certified-by-global-animal-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"More drugs found in \u201cantibiotic-free\u201d meat certified by Global Animal Partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Earlier today, the Washington Post\u00a0published an explosive article<\/a>\u00a0reporting that beef certified by Global Animal Partnership (GAP), the animal welfare certification used primarily by Whole Foods Market, was found to contain antibiotic residue despite GAP\u2019s and Whole Foods\u2019 claims that their meat is \u201cantibiotic-free.\u201d While this news will come as a surprise to many, it simply confirms what\u00a0our testing<\/a>\u00a0has revealed.<\/p>\n

Prior to the release of this troubling new information, Farm Forward launched our own antibiotic testing program, purchasing Animal Welfare Certified\u2122 meat from Whole Foods for analysis by two accredited, third-party laboratories. Farm Forward found residues of an antibiotic and other drugs in meat samples from Whole Foods, including one sample labeled \u201cantibiotic-free,\u201d GAP Animal Welfare Certified\u2122, and USDA Organic. The antibiotic, monensin sodium, is used to promote growth.1<\/a><\/p>\n

We chose to investigate Animal Welfare Certified\u2122 meat sold by Whole Foods because it is viewed by consumers as the gold standard. Whole Foods shoppers pay up to 20 percent more for products they believe are healthy and natural, so the retailer has a greater incentive than other grocers to ensure that its supply chain aligns with the claims it makes about its products. If shoppers can\u2019t trust \u201cno antibiotics, ever\u201d meat sold by Whole Foods, who can they trust?<\/p>\n

Farm Forward\u2019s test results are a smoking gun affirming our suspicions that the presence of drugs in meat is an industry-wide problem. The peer-reviewed\u00a0data released in Science<\/a>\u00a0provides confirmation: 15 percent of the total sample size, which represents 12 percent of all \u201cantibiotic-free\u201d beef produced in the United States, came from feedlots where at least one animal tested positive for antibiotics.2<\/a>\u00a0Animal Welfare Certified\u2122 products fared particularly poorly: 22 percent of the Animal Welfare Certified\u2122 cattle tested came from lots where 100 percent of animals sampled tested positive. In other words, these were not isolated incidents affecting only individual animals but entire herds.<\/p>\n

Farm Forward has long been concerned about the\u00a0overuse of antibiotics<\/a> in animal production because these drugs are often used to compensate for filthy conditions and unhealthy animals, or to accelerate animals\u2019 growth to increase profits. The impact of these antibiotics on human health is also a serious concern. Most of the antibiotics identified by the study, primarily tetracycline, are medically important for use in humans. Tetracycline is used to treat illnesses like pneumonia and urinary tract infections, and its overuse on factory farms contributes to the rise of antibiotic resistant infections, known as superbugs. A recent\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0suggests that in 2019 alone superbugs killed 1.3M people.<\/p>\n

Despite our\u00a0long-running\u00a0concerns about GAP and Whole Foods<\/a>\u00a0falling short of\u00a0consumers\u2019 expectations<\/a>\u00a0about animal welfare, their failure to prevent the misuse of antibiotics within their supply chain calls into question their ability to make guarantees about animal welfare. Whole Foods continues to use labels like GAP\u2019s Animal Welfare Certified\u2122 to\u00a0<\/span>humanewash<\/a>, obscuring the truth that the vast majority of products on their shelves come from factory farms.<\/p>\n

Join us in calling on Whole Foods to label their products truthfully.<\/a>\u00a0If it\u2019s factory farmed, call it factory farmed. And if the truth is too troubling for shoppers to stomach, take factory farmed products off your shelves.<\/p>\n

Be the first to get breaking results from Farm Forward\u2019s antibiotic testing program when you sign up for our newsletter below.<\/p>\n

Image Credit: Jo-Anne McArthur \/ Israel Against Live Shipments \/\u00a0We Animals Media<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n\n\n\t

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