(Dave Bedard photo)

KFC faces pressure after McDonald’s says no antibiotics in chicken

Los Angeles/Chicago | Reuters — KFC, the world’s largest chain of fried chicken restaurants, may face pressure from consumer and environmental groups to change how its poultry are raised after McDonald’s said it would switch to chicken raised without human antibiotics. McDonald’s will phase out chicken raised with antibiotics that are important to human health […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Costco working to end use of human antibiotics in chicken

Chicago | Reuters — Costco Wholesale Corp. is working toward eliminating the sale of chicken and meat from other animals raised with antibiotics that are vital to fighting human infections, senior executives at the third-largest U.S. retailer told Reuters on Thursday. The ongoing push by Costco, which sells 80 million rotisserie chickens a year, highlights […] Read more


a calf laying on the ground

Necrotic laryngitis or calf diphtheria (barker calves)

Veterinarians use various treatments depending on what they've found is most effective

I am sure most producers over the years have had calves develop a throat infection on a sporadic basis. These are the calves which have an extremely loud, inspiratory and expiratory sound which can be heard across the pen. They generally extended their neck to breathe and are in various forms of respiratory distress. The […] Read more

(McDonalds.com)

McDonald’s to ‘evaluate’ antibiotic use in Canadian chicken

The Canadian arm of fast-food giant McDonald’s isn’t yet moving to follow its U.S. counterpart’s plans to phase out use of certain antibiotics on chickens in its supply chain. The U.S. chain announced Wednesday it would move, over the next two years, to only purchase chicken “raised without antibiotics that are important to human medicine.” […] Read more


(McDonalds.com)

McDonald’s to phase out human antibiotics from U.S. chicken supply

Reuters — McDonald’s U.S. restaurants will gradually stop buying chicken raised with antibiotics vital to fighting human infections, the most aggressive step by a major food company to change chicken producers’ practices in the fight against dangerous “superbugs.” The world’s biggest restaurant chain announced on Wednesday that within two years, McDonald’s USA will only buy […] Read more

Antimicrobial resistance tug of war stands in the way of progress

The tug of war between government’s discounted ability to mount a meaningful defence against antimicrobial resistance (AMR), recent accusations that pull the ethical and professional conduct of food animal veterinarians offside, and the reality that we may be losing the battle against antibacterial resistance hinders the progress toward resolution. Three recent events highlight the tug […] Read more



cow

Straight talk on cattle steroids

Canada’s Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC) has collected some interesting stats on the estrogen level in beef. A 75-gram serving of beef from cattle treated with hormone implants contains two nanograms (ng ~ one billionth of a gram) of estrogen. “A person would need to eat 3,000,000 hamburgers made with beef from implanted cattle to […] Read more



With diagnosis, more mistakes are made from not looking than not knowing. The clues are there if you look for them.

The importance of field diagnosis

Health: The most common reason a treatment fails is due to a wrong diagnosis

If an animal has a health problem, it’s crucial to have the correct diagnosis before attempting treatment. Dr. Chris Clark of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon says the most common reason that a treatment fails is a wrong diagnosis. “We often complain about disease not responding to treatment. But the drugs we […] Read more