Antibiotic-Free

Using the term Antibiotic-free has become a new buzzword or marketing term for food sellers of late. Interesting as there is no antibiotics found in on our grocery store shelves or on restaurant's menus with or without using that term. The Food and Drug Administration strictly monitoring and control the use of antibiotics in farm animals. There is a withdraw period before an animal that has been given any antibiotics can be processed for human consumption. Washington State University adjunct professor Dr. Jude Capper says that antibiotics are one of the tools that farmers and ranchers have available to keep their animals healthy and is strictly regulated. Capper: "Now where something happens and those animals do become ill. We have a responsibility to those animals to care for them. But because of safe and effective testing programs that are in place from the FDA, there are no food on grocery shelf that contains antbiotics. We have those programs in place for a reason. So obviously it is everybody's choice whether to buy something labeled as free from anti-biotic but all ham has no antibiotics, all sausage, all beef, all eggs no foods that we buy from an animal-origin contained antibiotics on the grocery store shelves."