Chick-fil-A is shifting its quality standards, allowing some antibiotics in its chicken starting this spring after a decade of committing to serving antibiotic-free products.
The fast-food company announced the changes on its website, stating the decision was made to keep up with the supply needed to maintain its thousands of restaurant locations.
Instead of using chicken that is never treated with antibiotics, Chick-fil-A plans to start implementing “No Antibiotics Important To Human Medicine” (NAIHM) chicken, but a set date for the rollout was not specified.
“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,” the company explained.
Back in 2014, Chick-fil-A set a goal to have antibiotic-free chicken at all of its restaurants within five years. The company also committed to sourcing only cage-free eggs for its breakfast menu items by 2026.
However, continued outbreaks of the avian flu at chicken farms across the U.S. have resulted in limited supplies and an uptick in prices.
Chick-fil-A did not say the supply issues would affect its cage-free eggs goal.
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