McDonald's Canada to remove most antibiotics from chicken

McDonald's Canada is moving to remove antibiotics used in humans from its chicken offerings by the end of 2018. The company's 1,400 restaurants in Canada, which source all of their chicken from Canadian poultry farmers, says it will work with suppliers to phase out the use of antibiotics that are important to human medicine over the next three years. McDonald's said chicken farmers will continue to use ionophores, a type of antibiotic that is not used in humans. Antibiotics are used to stimulate growth as well as protect chickens and cattle from disease. Critics allege that the overuse of the drugs in meat has contributed to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bugs in humans. McDonald's Canada said last month that it was moving to use eggs from cage-free chickens over the next 10 years. The international fast-food giant's American arm made similar announcement earlier this year.