KFC is aiming to stop using chicken with antibiotics in it from the end of 2018.
The move is part of a growing trend within the fast food industry, with other chains including Burger King and McDonald’s (MCD) moving away from using antibiotics in chicken products, USA Today reports.
KFC will remove antibiotics from its boneless chicken and also its on-the-bone food, which it regards as a particularly notable move.
Antibiotics in chicken products can result in the growth of resistant bacteria and if chicken is wrongly prepared, consumers run the risk of infection and serious illness.
“We share the public’s concern about…antimicrobial resistance,” Kevin Hochman, president of KFC U.S. said.
The announcement comes as part of KFC’s efforts to alter its image by returning to its roots, which is being dubbed “re-Colonelization”, in a nod to founder Colonel Harland Sanders.
