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This article has more info: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a-game-of-chicken-how-indias-poultry-farms-are-spawning-global-superbugs/article22597845.ece h

This article has more info: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a-game-of-chicken-how-indias-poultry-farms-are-spawning-global-superbugs/article22597845.ece http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a-game-of-chicken-how-... Some highlights: "In India, at least five animal pharmaceutical companies are openly advertising products containing colistin as growth promoters. One of these companies, Venky’s, is also a major poultry producer. Apart from selling animal medicines and creating its own chicken meals, it supplies meat directly and indirectly to fast food chains in India such as KFC, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Domino’s." "McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut and Domino’s said the chicken they sourced from Venky’s is not raised on growth-promoting antibiotics and their suppliers follow their policies controlling their use of antibiotics. McDonald’s has pledged to phase out the use of critically important antibiotics by 2018 for markets including the EU and the U.S. — with an extra year for phasing out colistin in Europe. KFC has made a similar promise about its U.S. supply chains. They have promised to do the same in India, but without giving any timeframe. Jubilant FoodWorks (which owns Domino’s) has set a date, of 2019, to start phasing out the drugs." From Venky's wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_H_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_H_Group): "In December 2010, the group launched Venky's Xprs, a fast food restaurant specializing in chicken. The first outlet opened in Pune, India."

pasta1212 9y ago
To be clear, Jubilant Foodworks is the master franchisee for Domino’s in India. They don’t own Domino’s Pizza.
JoeAltmaier 9y ago
Curiously, antibiotics were used widely in the USA for weight gain in agricultural animals. It go to the point the sales agents would take them too, and have annual 'weigh-ins' at the sales conventions! Here's an article about it (if you can fight past the popup ads): https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2014/03/14/are-antibiotics-making-us-fat https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2014/03/14/are...
- michrassena 9y ago
  Could someone tell me how antibiotics promotes weight gain in livestock? Is the use of antibiotics only a necessity because so many animals are kept in close quarters? What about antibiotics causing weight gain in humans?
  - Retric 9y ago
    The immune system is reactive and takes both energy and nutrients. Antibiotics reduce this expenditure which adds up over time. Consider how many of these steps involve cell growth and or tissue damage that needs to be repaired: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQGOcOUBi6s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQGOcOUBi6s TLDR; Low dose antibiotics don't eliminate infections, but by reducing their growth the immune system puts far less effort into defense.
    - benaadams 9y ago
      Wouldn't low dose antibiotics be more likely to create antibiotic resistant bacteria than high dose?
      - banku_brougham 9y ago
        That is precisely the concern.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
      - cratermoon 9y ago
        Precisely. Constant exposure to less-than-therapeutic doses of antibiotics is a huge source of resistance. The bacteria in an animal with low doses or antibiotics are not exposed to enough of the drug to outright kill them, but the bacteria start to develop defenses. Bacteria can evolve extremely rapidly -- they don't even need to reproduce, as bacteria can exchange DNA horizontally[1]. Also, this is why if your doctor prescribes a course of antibiotics you should always complete the entire course, even if you feel fine. Stopping the antibiotics early can select for resistant strains. 1. http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/microbiome/resistance/ http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/microbiome/resistance...
hailk 9y ago
I've had bad experience with the food from venky's. But this might be confirmation bias, since I never ordered anything from them again and it could've been a one off scenario. Though I wonder what the long/short term effects of consuming such poultry would be.
tyfon 9y ago
Time to bring out the big guns and heavy fines (like the GDPR fines), but it will never happen with the current crop of corrupt politicians. All in the name of profit.
- ekianjo 9y ago
  Then stop eating in such places. Stop eating chicken that comes from such places. Consumer pressure always helps.
  - Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
    Consumer pressure is no substitute for regulatory action.
    - asciimo 9y ago
      It can be. There are lots of stories of USDA inspections being lax. For example (https://www.motherjones.com/food/2015/02/usda-whistleblowers-report-gross-condition-hog-slaughterhouses/ https://www.motherjones.com/food/2015/02/usda-whistleblowers...). Meanwhile, the meat industry is investing in "clean meat" with surprising alacrity due to consumer demand (https://www.gfi.org/2017-a-wake-up-call-for-the-meat-industry https://www.gfi.org/2017-a-wake-up-call-for-the-meat-industr...).
    - ekianjo 9y ago
      of course it can be. in a market if stuff is not accepted anymore it stops being sold and practices change. We can still have a fUnctional economy without 30 volumes of new regulation written every single year.
  - adrianN 9y ago
    Consumer pressure only works if consumers a) actually care, and b) have enough information to make informed choices. Most people only look at the prices when shopping for groceries. No meat I've ever seen had information about the treatments the animals received.
ppod 9y ago
>Venky's Took me a few seconds to remember where I knew that name from. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39872280 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39872280 https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/feb/18/blackburn-manchester-united-venkys-fa-cup https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/feb/18/blackb... They are also running one of English soccer's most historic clubs into the ground.

pasta1212 9y ago

To be clear, Jubilant Foodworks is the master franchisee for Domino’s in India. They don’t own Domino’s Pizza.

JoeAltmaier 9y ago

Curiously, antibiotics were used widely in the USA for weight gain in agricultural animals. It go to the point the sales agents would take them too, and have annual 'weigh-ins' at the sales conventions! Here's an article about it (if you can fight past the popup ads): https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2014/03/14/are-antibiotics-making-us-fat https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2014/03/14/are...

michrassena 9y ago
Could someone tell me how antibiotics promotes weight gain in livestock? Is the use of antibiotics only a necessity because so many animals are kept in close quarters? What about antibiotics causing weight gain in humans?
- Retric 9y ago
  The immune system is reactive and takes both energy and nutrients. Antibiotics reduce this expenditure which adds up over time. Consider how many of these steps involve cell growth and or tissue damage that needs to be repaired: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQGOcOUBi6s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQGOcOUBi6s TLDR; Low dose antibiotics don't eliminate infections, but by reducing their growth the immune system puts far less effort into defense.
  - benaadams 9y ago
    Wouldn't low dose antibiotics be more likely to create antibiotic resistant bacteria than high dose?
    - banku_brougham 9y ago
      That is precisely the concern.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - cratermoon 9y ago
      Precisely. Constant exposure to less-than-therapeutic doses of antibiotics is a huge source of resistance. The bacteria in an animal with low doses or antibiotics are not exposed to enough of the drug to outright kill them, but the bacteria start to develop defenses. Bacteria can evolve extremely rapidly -- they don't even need to reproduce, as bacteria can exchange DNA horizontally[1]. Also, this is why if your doctor prescribes a course of antibiotics you should always complete the entire course, even if you feel fine. Stopping the antibiotics early can select for resistant strains. 1. http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/microbiome/resistance/ http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/microbiome/resistance...

hailk 9y ago

I've had bad experience with the food from venky's. But this might be confirmation bias, since I never ordered anything from them again and it could've been a one off scenario. Though I wonder what the long/short term effects of consuming such poultry would be.

tyfon 9y ago

Time to bring out the big guns and heavy fines (like the GDPR fines), but it will never happen with the current crop of corrupt politicians. All in the name of profit.

ekianjo 9y ago
Then stop eating in such places. Stop eating chicken that comes from such places. Consumer pressure always helps.
- Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
  Consumer pressure is no substitute for regulatory action.
  - asciimo 9y ago
    It can be. There are lots of stories of USDA inspections being lax. For example (https://www.motherjones.com/food/2015/02/usda-whistleblowers-report-gross-condition-hog-slaughterhouses/ https://www.motherjones.com/food/2015/02/usda-whistleblowers...). Meanwhile, the meat industry is investing in "clean meat" with surprising alacrity due to consumer demand (https://www.gfi.org/2017-a-wake-up-call-for-the-meat-industry https://www.gfi.org/2017-a-wake-up-call-for-the-meat-industr...).
  - ekianjo 9y ago
    of course it can be. in a market if stuff is not accepted anymore it stops being sold and practices change. We can still have a fUnctional economy without 30 volumes of new regulation written every single year.
- adrianN 9y ago
  Consumer pressure only works if consumers a) actually care, and b) have enough information to make informed choices. Most people only look at the prices when shopping for groceries. No meat I've ever seen had information about the treatments the animals received.

ppod 9y ago

>Venky's Took me a few seconds to remember where I knew that name from. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39872280 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39872280 https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/feb/18/blackburn-manchester-united-venkys-fa-cup https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/feb/18/blackb... They are also running one of English soccer's most historic clubs into the ground.