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Chick-fil-A announced its plans to end its "no antibiotics ever" pledge and will instead begin a less-strict standard to allow some antibiotics in its chicken beginning in spring 2024.
The popular fast food chain revealed its plan on its "our chicken commitment" page recently.
"To maintain supply of high-quality chicken you expect from us, Chick-fil-A will shift from No Antibiotics Ever (NAE) to No Antibiotics Important To Human Medicine (NAIHM) starting in the Spring of 2024," the company said. "NAE means no antibiotics of any kind were used in raising the animal. NAIHM restricts the use of those antibiotics that are important to human medicine and commonly used to treat people, and allows use of animal antibiotics only if the animal and those around it were to become sick.
"Chick-fil-A has been dedicated to quality since the beginning. Our commitment to the high-quality chicken you expect from us is rooted in three simple things."
Many food companies have shifted to limiting the widespread use of antibiotics in livestock as resistance to antibiotics, which occurs when illness-causing bacteria and fungi become able to defeat medicines and create "super bugs" in recent years, the Washington Post reports. The NAIHM label allows restaurant chains and chicken producers to use only antibiotics intended to treat actual illness in animals, rather than ones that promote unnatural growth.
McDonald's previously announced its plans to move toward a standard similar to Chick-fil-A's new proposal in 2015, while Tyson had previously changed its standard amid difficulties with keeping its "no antibiotics ever" promise last year. Burger King and Popeye's are also among other national fast-food chains that already adhere to the NAIHM promise.