Key Findings

Superbugs in Stock aims to spur needed changes to reduce the public health threat posed by antibiotic resistance and push for the factory-farmed meat and poultry industries to shift to practices that protect animals and life-saving antibiotics. This report analyzes the antibiotic use policies and practices of the top 12 grocery chains in the United States.iii Companies were graded based on their steps taken for private label meat products, not all the meat they sell, since that is where stores are able to make the most direct and immediate change. Although not factored into the company grades, the urgency of this issue warrants making meaningful progress for all meat and poultry on their shelves. The report authors sent surveys to companies regarding their antibiotic use policies for private label brands. If a company responded to the survey, the authors compared those responses to publicly available information to ensure consistency. If a company did not respond to the survey, the authors relied on publicly available information to grade them, and if no information was readily available it was assumed the company did not have an antibiotic use policy in place.

Policy and implementation scores

Our research reveals that the companies evaluated in this report have not taken significant strides to create strong, comprehensive policies on antibiotics. We consider policies that prohibit the use of medically important antibiotics for disease prevention (use when no illness has been diagnosed in the animals receiving the antibiotics) to be strong policies. With the exception of Target, Ahold Delhaize, and Costco, all companies received a failing grade for their antibiotic policies even though our scoring and grading criteria were generous. The grocery sector overall has not acted on antibiotics, relying on weak policies if any and offering a small percentage of products raised with responsible use of antibiotics. Target, receiving a C, the highest grade out of the companies surveyed, has adopted a time-bound policy that applies to each species of animal products sold by their private label brands. Target has also connected the link to animal welfare associated with their antibiotic policies and made note that improvements to welfare would contribute to lower antibiotic use. While Target has a policy, it did not provide information to us on what portion of the meat it sells actually meets the commitment.

iii The twelve companies included in this report were identified via Supermarket News 2021 list of the top 50 food and grocery retailers by sales, omitting Canadian chains, pharmacy chains, and corner store/gas station chains. See https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail-financial/top-50-foodand-grocery-retailers-sales.