The international food and agriculture business, Cargill, has announced the creation of an antibiotic-free line of turkey products, to be marketed under the brand name Honest Turkey.
The company says the move is part of its commitment to keep reducing antibiotic use across its turkey business and that it is “making good” on its promise of ongoing reductions in overall antibiotic use.
Cargill had already announced, on August 1, 2016, that it is ending the use of the antibiotic, gentamicin, in relation to disease prevention in turkeys, harvested for its two largest brands, Honeysuckle White and Shady Brook Farms. It did add, however, that its turkeys will continue to receive antibiotics for the control and treatment of disease.
In now launching the Honest Turkey line, it said the products marketed under that brand line will be differentiated from conventional turkey offerings because they come from turkeys that are never treated with antibiotics.
“Eliminating antibiotic use for disease prevention purposes is the next logical step after ending the use of antibiotics for growth promotion purposes, which we began in 2014,” said Cargill’s head of turkey business marketing, Jan Hood.
Cargill’s head of turkey agriculture, Tim Maupin, added that to successfully meet the increasing demand from customers for antibiotic-free turkey, the company will start with a larger number of birds than required, knowing that a percentage may become ill, require antibiotics and have to be removed from the antibiotic-free turkey programme.
“We have an obligation to treat turkeys that get sick, however, because we want healthy birds and it’s the right thing to do,” said Mr Maupin.
While still believing that the “judicious” use of antibiotics in animal agriculture helps to assure a safe food supply, the company said it remains committed to exploring fact-based technologies as alternatives to antibiotics. It also backs the reduced use of shared-class antibiotics when the efficacy of a given replacement technology has been proven effective and economical.
Headline image shows Cargill’s Wichita Innovation Centre which is at the heart of the company’s search for antibiotic replacements
