Tyson pledges to stop using human antibiotics to raise chickens in US

Washington

ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT superbugs are killing thousands of Americans a year. And the meat industry, the biggest breeding ground for these infections, is taking major steps to doing something about the growing public health issue.

On Tuesday, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods became the latest chicken producer with plans to eliminate the use of human antibiotics for raising chickens in its US operations. The company, which set a September 2017 timetable, says it will also develop a plan for doing the same in its turkeys, cows and pigs, as well as the chickens it produces abroad.