Leading the Antibiotics-Free Charge
Jim Perdue made a startling announcement
back in 2016. His company—the fourth-largest
poultry business in the U.S.—had decided to turn
its back on the use of routine antibiotics. Even
better, Perdue had already succeeded in elimi-
nating them from 95 percent of its flocks, having
quietly begun phasing them out years earlier.
The news rocked the industry. Public-health
advocates had long warned that the constant,
low-level administration of antibiotics given
to poultry and livestock would lead to “super-
bugs”—bacteria resistant to the drugs—in both
animals and humans. Big Ag pushed back, ar-
guing that the danger was overblown and that
eliminating antibiotic use would make prices
skyrocket. But suddenly, with proof that it could
be done, the conversation changed. Competitors
hastily promised to follow suit. And restaurants
that had wanted to offer antibiotic- free chicken,
including Chick-fil-A, Subway and McDonald’s,
now had somewhere to buy it. Today, Perdue’s
birds receive no antibiotics ever.
Ever humble, Perdue says he made the
change because it’s what his customers wanted.
“That’s Frank Perdue’s legacy,” he says, referring
to his father, a man who became a cultural icon
in commercials in the 1980s. “If you don’t listen
to the consumer, you don’t survive.” But friends
(and adversaries too) say that what makes the
younger Perdue remarkable is his willingness to
explore the hard questions. “Too many people
surround themselves only with those who share
their narrow world view—and improvement is
really difficult from that place,” says Leah Garcés,president of Mercy for Animals, an animal-rights
organization, who calls Perdue’s move regarding
antibiotics “a bold step in the right direction.”
“We don’t agree on everything,” she adds. “But I
know we can have a respectful conversation and
understand each other’s challenges.”
Indeed, thanks to dialogue like that, animal
welfare is the next big focus for Perdue. The
company has committed to doubling the activity
of its birds, adding windows to its houses and
“enrichments” like hay bales so the birds can do
chicken-y things like peck and roost. Perdue is
also working with slower-growing breeds (which
have fewer health issues because they mature at
a more natural pace than many current breeds
and are typically raised on pasture). Frank Per-
due used to say, “It takes a tough man to make
a tender chicken.” His son knows that it takes a
forward-thinking man to make a happy one.Jim Perdue, Executive Chairman, Perdue Farms