UCSF Medical Center Phasing Out Purchases of Meat Products Raised With Routine Antibiotic Use6/3/2013
Good News from Pew Charitable Trusts: "The University of California at San Francisco Medical Center has committed to phasing out purchases of meat and poultry products that were raised with routine antibiotic use. Because the hospitals and other medical facilities are directly affected by dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the medical center has a strong business case to support policies and purchasing decisions that promote judicious drug use for both people and animals. For the medical center, which serves more than 650,000 meals annually and has a food budget of $7 million, this decision sends a strong message to both policymakers and the animal agriculture industry." Mary Vincent & Tezozomoc NRDC announced the winners of the 2013 Growing Green Awards, NRDC’s annual celebration of the nation’s most dynamic food leaders, and I was very lucky to meet them all. Winners include the following, and an NRDC video is below telling their stories. · Young Food Leader Brianna Almaguer Sandoval (PA): addressing food access by infusing urban areas with fresh produce in corner stores. · Food Producer Russ Kremer (MO): tackling antibiotic resistance. · Food Justice Leader Tezozomoc (CA): empowering marginalized communities with sustainable food equity and access projects. · Business Leader Larry Jacobs (CA): championing business innovation in toxic-free organic agriculture. I asked Larry about some of his latest work, and he's working on Semiochemistry which is finding ways to increase good insects. Additionally, a special NRDC Forces for Nature award was presented by Nell Newman, co-founder and president of Newman’s Own Organics, to Susan Clark, Executive Director of the Columbia Foundation, to honor her career-long efforts to advance the cause of sustainable food and agriculture in California and across the country. Susan has roused a robust and growing philanthropic community around the connections between food, health and the environment for more than two decades. Credit: Fedele Bauccio Gratitude Gourmet readers know that Fedele Bauccio, CEO of Bon Appétit Management Company, is my Hero. Fedele's company was the Environmental Defense Fund's (EDF) 2009 Innovations Review Food and Beverage Innovator, recognized for reducing the environmental and carbon footprint and Winner of the National Resource Defense Council's (NRDC) 1st Annual Growing Green Awards. Fedele has written a wonderful February 2013 Sustainability Editorial called: Redefining Sustainability - or Practicing What We Preach. His Editorial is a must-read for those concerned about our food policies, health, farm worker treatment, humane animal conditions, antibiotics ... and our Future. The article link is here: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/SUS.2013.9900 Please share with your colleagues, friends, families, communities, and policymakers. Thank you. Image: Self During March 2012, Fedele Bauccio, CEO of Bon Appétit Management Company, spoke to the FDA and members of Health and Human Services on the Antibiotic issue in animals and how its affecting the human population. See this article for more information on his speech. Self Magazine just published a June 2012 article titled: The Dangerous Superbugs Hiding in Your Dinner which goes into great detail on this subject; it's a MUST-READ folks. Fedele Bauccio Fedele Bauccio, CEO of Bon Appétit Management Company, was at the White House last week speaking to the FDA and members of Health and Human services on the Antibiotic issue in animals and how its affecting the human population. Per Fedele: "I’ve also seen firsthand the ill effects antibiotic resistant bacteria can have on our most vulnerable populations. At one point last year, two people in our headquarters office had parents with MRSA infections. A 2009 study done at University of Iowa, as well as several conducted abroad, has linked the spread of this potentially fatal bacteria to hog production." Here is Fedele Bauccio's speech in its entirety: ---------- I am Fedele Bauccio, CEO of Bon Appétit Management Company, a national onsite restaurant company that serves 135 million meals each year at over 400 cafés in 31 states. As a company we are committed to two goals, culinary expertise and social responsibility, and in that vein I appreciate the opportunity to be here today to voice my strong support for White House intervention in preserving antibiotics for medical treatment. It is imperative that we, as a country, discontinue the use of antibiotics for nontherapeutic purposes in animals. In addition to being harmful to the animals themselves and only marginally beneficial for meat producers, this common practice of using antibiotics as feed additives has led to dramatically increased antibiotic resistance in humans and has become a serious public health problem. I feel so strongly about this issue that I have banned most meat that has been raised in this manner to be served in my restaurants, and I’d ban it entirely but there isn’t enough supply for us to be able to make that commitment yet. Our concern about this issue goes back seven years. In 2002, I learned that an estimated 70 percent of the antibiotics used in this country are fed to farm animals that are not sick in order to promote growth or prophylactically treat diseases caused by questionable animal husbandry practices. A more recent study estimated the number as 80%. As I learned more and realized how widespread these practices are in the meat production industry, Bon Appétit formed a partnership with Environmental Defense Fund to look at how we could take the lead and discourage antibiotic use in meat and poultry production. Our partnership resulted in the creation of the farthest-reaching corporate policy on antibiotics at that time: Bon Appétit only buys chicken raised without the “non-therapeutic routine use of human antibiotics as feed additives. In 2005, we extended this policy to turkey. We took this policy another step further and, since March 2007, we only serve hamburgers made from natural beef with no trim. While there is no strict legal definition of "natural," our suppliers commit to using no antibiotics, no added growth hormones, and no animal by products in feed. Our biggest challenge in implementing our antibiotics policy has always been sourcing the products. We have recruited both major poultry producers as well as small, local producers as suppliers. We only purchase food from those who provided written confirmation of their compliance. But there are not enough suppliers who meet our standards everywhere. We use a purchasing preference to induce suppliers in many markets, but we don’t have the concentration of business in all markets to buy enough chicken or turkey or beef in some states to tip the scales as we have in other locations, and we can’t find a national pork producer who will commit at all. Many producers are afraid to change, even with an economic incentive. They need a push. The White House could be that lever of change we need. From 2006 to 2008, I served as a member of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production. I learned a lot from the physicians, poultry producers, farmers and industry representatives on the committee, as well as those who testified before us. I came away from that experience enriched and much better educated about animal husbandry. One of the many things I concluded is that there is absolutely no good business reason, and certainly no good moral reason, for feeding medically important human antibiotics to animals that we eat. None. I’ve also seen firsthand the ill effects antibiotic resistant bacteria can have on our most vulnerable populations. At one point last year, two people in our headquarters office had parents with MRSA infections. A 2009 study done at University of Iowa, as well as several conducted abroad, has linked the spread of this potentially fatal bacteria to hog production. The bottom line is, Americans want safe food. Food is nourishment. It shouldn’t be something that does us harm. Antibiotic resistance is harmful. These drugs were meant to treat humans and animals when we’re really sick and need them, not as a feed additive for animals so they won’t be effective when humans need them. Let’s get our priorities straight. The time to ban antibiotics as a feed additive is long overdue. I strongly support this action. Thank you. |