Subway, the major sandwich chain with 27,000 restaurants in the United States, has vowed to eliminate the use of antibiotics in its entire meat supply by 2025.
Like Chipotle, Panera, Chick-fil-A and McDonalds, Subway has promised that all its meats – from chicken to turkey, pork and beef – will eventually be void of antibiotics, a strategic move made in light of the growing health concerns involving drug-resistant bacteria, reported The Wall Street Journal.
“Beginning in March 2016, SUBWAY customers across the U.S. will able to order meals made with chicken raised without antibiotics. Turkey raised without antibiotics will be introduced in 2016, with a completed transition expected within 2-3 years, and pork and beef raised without antibiotics will follow within six years after that,” the company stated in a release.
The sandwich chain is already committed to selling sustainable tuna products, and is working with the Marine Stewardship Council to sell only certified seafood products in the longer term.
“Tuna is the only seafood sandwich that is on the SUBWAY® restaurants’ menu worldwide. We only sell skipjack tuna, considered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as a species of least concern. It is sourced from fisheries with non-threatened stock levels. Furthermore, we have a global ban on the sale of tuna species that come from anything less than healthy stocks, for example yellowfin and Tongol,” according to Subway’s corporate site.
Costco Wholesale has taken a similar stance on antibiotics in 2016, announcing its plans to source salmon from Norway rather than Chile because of lower antibiotic usage by the former.
