Chain Reaction III Report

Chain Reaction III is the third annual report and scorecard that grades America’s top restaurant chains on their policies and practices regarding antibiotics use and transparency in their meat and poultry supply chains.

Read the full report
Read the executive summary

A stunning 70 percent of all antibiotics important in human medicine in the U.S. are sold for use in animal agriculture. These lifesaving drugs are fed routinely to animals that are not sick in order to promote growth and prevent diseases that spread easily in crowded, filthy factory farm conditions. Public health agencies have declared antibiotic resistance a top health threat in the U.S. — and the rampant misuse of antibiotics in livestock production is a major cause.

Fourteen of the top twenty-five companies, a clear majority, have taken at least some steps to limit use of antibiotics in all or some of their supply chains. These fourteen, accounting for two-thirds of all fast food industry revenue, received passing grades, up from nine last year and five the year before. It is important to note, however, that while remarkable progress has been made to reduce or even eliminate use of medically important antibiotics, this progress has largely occurred in chicken production. With a few exceptions, companies have made little progress in reducing the use of antibiotics in their pork and beef supplies.

The Scorecard

Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, Consumers Union, Food Animal Concerns Trust, Keep Antibiotics Working, and Center for Food Safety all contributed to research and writing for the Chain Reaction III report. Based on surveys from the companies and publicly available information, we created an industry scorecard that assesses company policies on antibiotics use, implementation of these policies as reflected in current meat and poultry purchasing, and transparency about antibiotics use. See Appendix 1 in the report for our survey methodology and questions.

About our work

Our campaigns this year have pressured Subway, Darden/Olive Garden and In-N-out Burger (among others) to adopt more responsible policies on antibiotic use in their meat supply. We are also supporting a broad coalition of groups that have asked Yum! Brands to enact better antibiotic policies.

These campaigns helped inspire a coalition of investors that manage $1.4 trillion in assets to send letters this year calling on 10 of the largest restaurant companies, including Darden Restaurants, to end the routine use of antibiotics important to human medicine in their global meat and poultry supply chains.

While restaurants are a key part of shifting practices on the ground, our market change campaigns are part of a broader effort to transform the way in which animals are raised and change public policy. Ultimately, we need a ban on the routine use of antibiotics in animal agriculture and a wholesale shift away from intensive confinement to well-managed, humane production systems that improve animal welfare and reduce the need for routine drugs.  We also need major policy shifts in order reduce the harmful impacts of industrial animal agriculture and increase public investment in more humane, sustainable, just and ecological food production.

Learn more

• Read our article on natural chicken: Think you’re eating ‘100% natural’ chicken? Think again, June 22, 2017.
• Read our article on McDonald’s announcement on chicken: 100% of McDonald’s Chicken Now Raised Without Antibiotics, August 3, 2016.
• Read our article that urges Darden to take action on antibiotics and other food issues: Time to Turn Olive Garden’s Good Food Rhetoric into Reality, March 30, 2016.
• Learn about a shareholder resolution that asks Darden to take action on antibiotics. Darden’s annual meeting is on Friday, September 29.

Reports

	Chain Reaction: How Top Restaurants Rate on Reducing Use of Antibiotics in Their Meat Supply Chain Reaction is the first annual report and scorecard that grades America’s top restaurant chains on their policies and practices regarding antibiotics use and transparency in their meat and poultry supply chains. All but five companies received a failing grade.
	Chain Reaction II: How Top Restaurants Rate on Reducing Use of Antibiotics in Their Meat Supply Chain Reaction II is the second annual report and scorecard that grades America’s top restaurant chains on their policies and practices regarding antibiotics use and transparency in their meat and poultry supply chains. Nine out of twenty-five chains received passing grades.
	Chain Reaction III: How Top Restaurants Rate on Reducing Use of Antibiotics in Their Meat Supply Chain Reaction III is the third annual report and scorecard that grades America’s top restaurant chains on their policies and practices regarding antibiotics use and transparency in their meat and poultry supply chains. Fourteen out of twenty-five chains received passing grades.