Lots of food companies and restaurants are advertising food without antibiotics. But is it true?
Sort of.
Most meat is exposed to antibiotics of some kind at some point. But you need to know the different types.
If a product has the USDA verified organic sticker, the animal could only be exposed to antibiotics when it was inside an egg or on its first day of life. Claims like "No antibiotics ever" or "never given antibiotics" means the animal was never given antibiotics, even as an egg. And with the USDA Process Verified seal that means inspectors made sure their claims were true. Animals that get sick are removed and used for non-organic purposes.
A lot of restaurant chains already use meat that claims to have had no medically important antibiotics. This means that antibiotics that people use, like amoxicillin, erythromycin, and tetracycline, were not used on the animal. Other antibiotics could still be used. McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Wendy's all have this policy.
If a product's only claim is not using any "growth-promoting antibiotics" you may want to save your money. Charlotte Vallaeys, senior policy analyst and food label expert at Consumer Reports says that's basically the industry standard now. So you'd be paying more for what everyone already does.