Pizza Hut is making a major change to beat out its competitors
- Pizza Hut is cutting antibiotics from all chicken wings by 2022, the chain announced on Tuesday.
- The pizza chain previously announced it had completed plans to stop using chickens raised with antibiotics important to human medicine in its pizza toppings.
- Antibiotics have been a hot topic for pizza and chicken chains recently.
Pizza Hut is making a commitment to cut antibiotics from its menu.
On Tuesday, the pizza chain announced a plan to transition fully to chicken raised free of antibiotics important to human medicine by 2022. Notably, the announcement includes all chicken wings - not just pizza toppings.
"Today's announcement to no longer serve chicken raised with antibiotics by 2022 demonstrates our commitment to serve food that not only tastes great, but that customers can feel good about eating," Marianne Radley, Pizza Hut's chief brand officer, said in a statement.
"Our customers are our business, and we will continue to push ourselves to ensure that we are delivering the quality food and quality experience our customers expect and deserve."
Antibiotics are a hot topic in the pizza and chicken industry.
Research, including a 2013 report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, offers evidence that antibiotic overdose is contributing to the rise of super-strong bacteria that no longer respond to antibiotics. If the problem is allowed to continue, then it could mean a future in which we can no longer treat infections using antibiotics, thanks to the rise of superbugs.
As a result, many major chains have worked to transition away from meat - especially chicken - that's raised with antibiotics.
Pizza Hut's most recent announcement comes a year after it completed the transition to antibiotic-free chicken in its pizza toppings.
In 2016, Papa John's and take-and-bake pizza chain Papa Murphy's announced they had completed their transition to poultry raised without antibiotics. In 2017, KFC announced that US poultry suppliers had been given until the end of 2018 to stop using antibiotics important to human medicine when raising chicken.