Chick-Fil-A backtracks from its no-antibiotics-in-chicken pledge, blames projected supply shortages

The fast-food chain Chick-Fil-A backtracked from its decade-old “no antibiotics ever” pledge intended to help prevent human antibiotic resistance linked to the rampant use of the drugs in livestock production. Instead, the company said, it will embrace a standard known as “no antibiotics important to human medicine,” which entails avoidance of such medicines commonly used to treat people and limits the use of animal antibiotics to cases of animal illness. Livestock producers have long used antibiotics to boost rapid weight gain in animals such as chickens, pigs, cows and sheep, although many nations, including the United States, have begun to restrict the practice.