Experts warn that this practice could make humans resistant to antibiotics. For example, the report states that resistance could occur in kids with staph infections or adults with pneumonia in that antibiotics just might not work. Because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have named antibiotic resistance one of the five top health threats in America, this is a scary thing.   

Just as concerning, the number of meats containing antibiotics is growing. According to the report, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that the number of antibiotics sold for use in livestock grew by 20 percent between 2009 and 2013. In fact, it is said that about 70 percent of medical-grade antibiotics are actually sold for use in animals.  

Good News About Restaurant Grub 

These are the reasons why experts have begun investigating. To evaluate the policies and practices of these establishments in the way of antibiotics used in meat and poultry products, a collective group conducted a survey and analyzed establishments' public statements. The result was an industry scorecard designed to assess the commitments of the establishments regarding antibiotic use and policy transparency in general.  

The findings were concerning. For starters, only five restaurants received passing grades: Chipotle Mexican Grill (A), Panera Bread (A), Chick-fil-A (B), Dunkin’ Donuts (C) and McDonald’s (C). 

The report also states that “only five of the top 25 chains have adopted publicly available policies that meaningfully limit routine antibiotics use.” The policies vary by company. For example, Chick-fil-A stressed that it prohibits antibiotic use in its meats. And McDonald’s said it prohibits antibiotics that are important to human medicine in its chicken products.  

The report found that only four restaurants had policies regarding antibiotic use on all meats served: Chipotle, Panera, Chick-fil-A and Dunkin’ Donuts. However, Dunkin’ Donuts was still docked -- the report states that “although Dunkin’ Donuts has adopted a good antibiotics use policy, it has not made public a timetable for when suppliers must meet company requirements and it is unclear how much, if any, meat served in its restaurants meets policy specifications. We therefore rated Dunkin’ Donuts at 0 (of 8) for estimated current availability.”