Food service company Compass Group North America has announced with partners Environmental Defense and Smithfield Foods what it says is a first-of-its-kind purchasing policy to curb antibiotic use in pork production

Food & Drink Weekly, August 8, 2005

Food service company Compass Group North America has announced with partners Environmental Defense and Smithfield Foods what it says is a first-of-its-kind purchasing policy to curb antibiotic use in pork production. The policy prohibits the purchase of pork in which antibiotics that belong to classes of compounds approved for use in human medicine have been used for growth promotion purposes, it said.

It also requires suppliers to report and reduce antibiotic usage over time. Similar requirements will apply to the company's purchase of chicken. The policy applies to all animals that are raised by suppliers for the duration of their lives. The overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture and in human medicine can cause the drugs to become less effective. Estimates of antibiotic use in livestock production vary, but there is general agreement that reducing overall use of antibiotics will prolong the effectiveness of these important medicines. Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork processor and hog producer and the main pork supplier to Compass Group, through its hog production subsidiary Murphy-Brown LLC, began several years ago to limit antibiotic use through enhanced management practices and now reports the amount of feed-grade antibiotics that are purchased per pound of product sold. Because of these actions, Smithfield is now able to supply pork that meets the needs of Compass North America.