News Room

We recognize concerns about the overuse of antibiotics in animal production, and believe that antibiotics should not be used for growth promotion, to boost production or in place of responsible animal husbandry. However, as part of our commitment to humane raising and food safety, we believe that it is important to properly treat ill or at-risk animals when medically appropriate. As such, we have a range of products and brands to support consumer choice and provide us with options in the rare instance that antibiotics are needed to properly care for the animals raised for our products.

Under Coleman Natural Foods and the HARVESTLAND(R) brand, we produce organic, free-range and barn-raised chickens, turkey and pork without the use of any antibiotics -- ever.

Within Perdue, we do not use antibiotics for growth promotion, and, as a result of our emphasis on providing a healthy growing environment for our chickens, we do not need to rely on antibiotics to keep our chickens healthy. However, in keeping with our commitment to poultry welfare and to providing wholesome products, our company's team of veterinarians, who are board-certified by the American College of Poultry Veterinarians, may prescribe antibiotics when medically appropriate. These antibiotics are used in stringent accordance with FDA and USDA guidelines and only under the guidance of one of our veterinarians.

To prevent intestinal illness in chickens, we may also administer ionophores to Perdue chickens when medically appropriate. Ionophores are a type of antibiotic not used in human medicine and are not linked to concerns over antibiotic resistance in humans. The FDA and USDA have approved this use of ionophores.

All PERDUE® products are free of harmful residues as determined by routine USDA sampling.