Striving4Zen

Conventional cattle ranchers and pig and chicken farmers routinely feed their animals a steady diet of antibiotics to prevent illness and help them grow fatter faster. But as consumers become more obsessed [or just aware] with what they eat, including an insatiable hunger for meat and chicken raised naturally, without drugs, more producers are promoting their products as antibiotic free.

But is there truth in advertising?

Even producers who have eliminated antibiotics may be using other bacteria-killing compounds in the anti-microbial family, which have a murky definition under the law. Although not all anti-microbials are defined as antibiotics by the Food and Drug Administration, their use opens up a minefield of issues.

Among them:

-- Anti-microbials are not listed on labels.

-- They work the same way as antibiotics.

-- Many people consider them to be harmful to the environment.

"The only way to know if a producer is using anti-microbials is to call the manufacturer and ask them," said Urvashi Rangan, a scientist for the nonprofit Consumers Union.

"A manufacturer doesn't have to list it on the label even if they're making an antibiotic-free claim. And as far as we're concerned, if you're using a drug to kill a parasite or a micro-organism and you're making a 'no antibiotics' claim, you're being misleading."

While scientists debate the pros and cons of using any bacteria-killing drug in food animals, most agree that the only difference between antibiotics and anti-microbials is purely one of semantics.

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Labels: antibiotics, eating healthy, hormones, meat, toxins