After the White House convened a conference with food companies, supermarket brands, and health officials on Tuesday, June 2, about reducing the use of antibiotics in raising meat and poultry, the president signed a memorandum requiring all federal government cafeterias to offer antibiotic-free meat options.
The White House also announced that the Presidential Food Service, which runs the White House kitchen and serves President Barack Obama and his family, will commit to using antibiotic-free and growth-hormone-free meats.
The meat industry’s widespread use of antibiotics to prevent disease and promote growth in animals has public health experts worried about antibiotic resistance among humans. As antibiotics get overused, the drugs lose their effectiveness at inhibiting or killing bacteria.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that antibiotic-resistant bacteria causes 2 million people to fall ill and 23,000 people to die from bacterial infections every year.
