McDonald's Corp released guidelines to require beef suppliers to start phasing out the use of antibiotics — joining a widespread effort to combat superbugs, Reuters reports.
The guidelines require suppliers in the fast food giant's top 10 sourcing countries to curb antibiotic use defined by the World Health Organization as "highest priority critically important antimicrobials" to human medicine.
McDonald's also told suppliers to follow a tiered approach to antibiotic use, encouraging them to use these drugs as a last resort.
The company will work with producers in Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Canada, Brazil, the U.S. and the U.K. to develop pilot tests for this new policy.
McDonald's said it would create market-specific reduction targets based on the test findings by the end of 2020.