Perdue Farms reduced the use of antibiotics in its chickens and eliminated them entirely from hatcheries. The chicken producer surpassed the guidelines set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year.
"We recognize concerns about the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture," the company said in a statement. "We believe in a responsible use approach that does not risk the effectiveness of antibiotics in human health, provides healthy growing environments for animals and does not employ drugs for growth promotion."
Perdue stopped the use of human antibiotics in 95 percent of its chicken. The other 5 percent receive them only when prescribed by a veterinarian for a specific problem and then only for a few days. Five years ago, 100 percent of Perdue chickens received human antibiotics, according to USA Today.
Consumers have called for a reduction and total elimination of antibiotics used in food-producing animals because it can "contribute to the emergence, persistence, and spread of resistant bacteria," according to the CDC.
"The amount of antibiotics used on the farm is simply not sustainable if we want to preserve their uses in human medicine," Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, told USA Today. "I hope Perdue's actions foreshadow changes across the industry."
The FDA asked companies to voluntarily make these changes in the three months after the guidelines were issued on Dec. 11, 2013. The voluntary participation was the fastest, most efficient way to make the changes, according to the FDA.
"This will help the industry move forward," CEO Jim Purdue, grandson of the company's founder, told USA Today. "There's no law that you have to do this. We did it voluntarily."
In addition to the human antibiotics reduction, the third-largest chicken producer has stopped using antibiotics in its hatcheries. The company will still use animal antibiotics in two-thirds of its chickens for the prevention of common illnesses.
About 10 percent of fresh chicken is antibiotic-free, but it and organic chicken rank among the fast-growing sectors in the chicken industry, according to USA Today.