McDonald's has made no commitment to stop using poultry treated with antibiotics in the Chinese market after it stopped using the same kind of antibiotics in the U.S. market, raising questions about whether the fast food giant applies a double standard in China.
McDonald's admitted that it is unavoidable to use antibiotics to treat animal diseases, but the company insists that it has always requested that its Chinese suppliers strictly observe China's laws and regulations when using antibiotics in livestock, according to a statement sent to the Global Times on Sunday by a McDonald's Beijing public relations coordinator.
McDonald's announced on its official U.S. website on August 1 that it is "completing a major commitment to only serve chicken not treated with antibiotics important to human medicine nearly a year ahead of schedule."
The company made the decision in response to consumer groups' petitions calling for a ban on antibiotics in its chicken products, but the ban is so far only in place in the U.S., cnr.cn reported.
Antibiotics can be used to effectively treat bacterial infections, but excessive antibiotic residues in animal products can harm human health, the cnr.cn report stated, noting that Chinese consumers have questioned whether McDonald's is applying different standards in the Chinese market.
Zhu Yi, associate professor of food safety at China Agricultural University, told cnr.cn on Sunday that current practices are trending toward the elimination of antibiotic use in the livestock industry, but it is impractical for China to completely ban antibiotics for now.
Zhu said that 98 percent of China's current standards for veterinary drug residues in meat are parallel to or better than international standards and argued that if producers obey relevant food safety laws and regulations on the use of antibiotics, there should be no difference between the chicken used by McDonald's in China and the U.S.
