Hey Wendy’s Thank You

Hey Wendy’s Thank You!

You heard that right, I’m sending a thank you out to Wendy’s, the chain restaurant. In a time when it doesn’t seem like a day goes by where there’s not some chain falling to pressure from hype it’s refreshing to see Wendy’s embracing the facts and not the fear! This week at the 2016 Cattle Industry Convention, Liliana Esposito, Wendy’s chief communications officer, shared the companies views on antibiotic use.

“We do recognize the realities of animal agriculture,” said Esposito. “We certainly don’t want to make any requirements of beef producers that aren’t feasible. However, we are asking beef producers to come with us on our journey to be transparent and make our practices as great as they can be. The best beef comes from healthy, well-cared for animals. A sick animal needs to be treated, and you won’t hear differently from us.” via Beef Magazine you can read their full coverage of Wendy’s address here.

The Wendy’s Company is the world’s third largest quick service hamburger company. The Wendy’s system includes approximately 6,500 franchise and company operated restaurants in the United States and 28 countries and U.S. territories worldwide. While I can’t give them gold stars across all Ag industries, I do believe that Wendy’s is taking the time and doing the research with producers to make the right moves. As stated on their website the overview of Wendy’s animal welfare program is “we believe we have an opportunity and a desire to care for our customers and employees while also promoting the health and welfare of the animals that provide our food.”

With mounting pressure and unbased calls to ban all antibiotics from animal agriculture, it’s reassuring to know that someone is taking the time to make sound decisions. There’s work to be done with antibiotics. As a dairy farmer I know that antibiotics are tool that need to be accessible in my toolbox. To have them banned by consumers who don’t understand how they are sparingly and judiciously used on our farm would be detrimental to our herd’s health.

I hope this topic can continue to be open and transparent as we within the industry work towards addressing the concerns that come from outside the industry on antibiotic use.