The Wall Street Journal : Concern Grows About Antibiotic Use in Food

The Food and Drug Administration’s decision last week to ban the antibiotic Baytril in poultry production is among the latest in a series of steps to limit the use of antibiotics in farm animals. The move comes at a time when an increasing number of companies are marketing “antibiotic-free” meat.

Murray’s Chicken, available in grocery stores raised under the “Certified Humane Raised and Handled” program, which promises, among other things, that animals are raised with “a healthy diet without added antibiotics,” rose to two million in 2004 from 143,000 animals the year before… approved by the USDA: Products labeled as “Certified Humane” indicate that animals weren’t given antibiotics subtherapeutically.