A new ordinance in San Francisco requires grocery stores to report antibiotic use in the raising of livestock at the city’s approximately 120 stores that sell meat to the public.
The San Francisco Examiner reports that the order by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors wants the grocery chains to collect the information and provide annual reports to the city’s Department of Environment for distribution to consumers. The lawmakers say the goal of the ordinance is to spark a marketplace shift to antibiotic-free meat and poultry, and say the use of antibiotics to speed up growth or protect confined animals has been partly blamed for an uptick in antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The new ordinance does not target processors or producers but includes penalties, including a civil penalty of as much as $1,000 per day, for grocery chains that do not comply with the reporting standards.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.