The fast-food chain has announced that it will soon allow certain antibiotics to be used in the chickens it raises, citing supply issues.

Fast-food chain Chick-fil-A has sparked a social media backlash after announcing that it will soon allow certain antibiotics in the chickens it raises, citing supply issues.

Chick-fil-A restaurants in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico will transition “from chicken raised with No Antibiotics Ever (NAE) to chicken raised with No Antibiotics Important to Human Medicine (NAIHM), starting in the spring of 2024,” the company said in a statement posted on its website this week.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.world
    151·
    2 年前

    “In a statement to Reuters, Chick-fil-A said the policy change was due to challenges it foresees finding chicken supplies that “meets our rigid standards.””

    So, clearly, the solution is “lower your standards”? 🤔

    • reddig33@lemmy.world
      89·
      2 年前

      It has a conservative Christian cult following due to the founder’s political and religious views.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldBannedEnglish
      75·
      2 年前

      First off, remember it’s fast food, standards are abysmal.

      But it’s an actual piece of chicken, that’s actually prepared correctly.

      If you got it in a sit down restaurant or even pub, you wouldn’t comment on it.

      But compare it to any other chicken sandwich you could get from a drive thru in the last 20 years and the hype makes sense.

      No matter where you are, if you see a chicfila you know you’ll get a decent chicken sandwich that isn’t ridiculously expensive.

      A burger place isn’t going to do chicken as well as a dedicated chicken place, and KFC is a joke, so the only real competition for that niche is Popeyes on a national level.

      • helpme@sh.itjust.works
        21·
        2 年前

        I guess you can still call it good but they switched to Tyson on the East Coast like 10 years ago and yeah it’s bland and generic.

      • someguy3@lemmy.caEnglish
        10·
        2 年前

        KFC in North America could learn a thing or two from KFC in China. It’s their McDonald’s.

      • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
        9·
        2 年前

        Twenty years ago? Probably?

        Ten years ago? Doubtful

        But the past few years have seen most of the fast food fried chicken places go hard on chicken sandwiches. And even mcdonald’s has stepped up their game to being actually pretty decent.

        Mostly chikfila just coasts on their recognition from 20 years ago and the zealots who refuse to try anything else.

        • intensely_human@lemm.eeBanned
          3·
          2 年前

          Incidentally you can tell which universe a person is from by how they spell Chik-fil-a

          You spell it the way it was spelled in my original universe

      • bjorney@lemmy.caBanned
        6·
        2 年前

        Fast food also varies so much across the US. I talked up Chick-fil-A so much after having it in Texas, and then when I brought my girlfriend to one in Florida it was garbage.

      • SeaJ@lemm.ee
        3·
        2 年前

        Popeye’s is better. I’ve had Chick-fil-A once (bought for me) and it was exactly what it looked like: a chicken sandwich. It was a bit bland and watery.

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
          1·
          2 年前

          Let me guess, someone bought it for you, let it sit in a bag for an hour, and then gave it to you…and you judge the entire franchise off this one experience

          • SeaJ@lemm.ee
            2·
            2 年前

            That’s a fucking weird guess. No. It was a client on site and Chick-fil-A was about 5 minutes gotten the road. It would be weird for my client to have ordered mine an hour before the fifteen people I was training.

            My question is…why the fuck are you so defensive of a mediocre fast food chain?

            • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
              2·
              2 年前

              Because it’s good chicken, and I think it’s hilarious that the groupthink has extended to where people are pretending it’s not, because that’s better politics.

              • SeaJ@lemm.ee
                1·
                2 年前

                Sorry but no, I’ve had a good amount of chicken sandwiches and it is decidedly mediocre and honestly no better than Wendy’s. You seem to think it’s not group think on the part of people raving about a mediocre chicken sandwich. That is a bit silly, don’t you think?

                I recall asking why they thought it was so good and most of them said it was the sauces that you can get. I think one or two people mentioned the service. The sauces were okay but nothing special. I can’t comment on the service but that is not something I generally care about for fast food outside of making sure my order is right.

      • Dark Arc@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 年前

        One thing I do like is that they have (the option of) whole grain buns… I’ve been unable to find that elsewhere.

    • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
      15·
      2 年前

      Seriously. It’s like being in love with average quality.

      In my city, the dive bar makes better chicken sandwiches. How depressing that people live like that.

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
        1·
        2 年前

        In my city, the dive bars make phenomenal chicken sandwiches, which cost 4-5 times as much as Chick fil A, who makes a good chicken sandwich.

    • GBU_28@lemm.eeBannedEnglish
      12·
      2 年前

      Reliable/consistent, fast.

      No one gives a shit about the politics of the company outside of the permanently online

    • 4am@lemm.ee
      10·
      2 年前

      The peach milkshake slaps but the food sucks. Popeyes is better for God’s sake.

      Of course I stopped going entirely after they said they stopped donating to LGBTQA+ groups and then got fucking caught doing it yet again so yeah fuck Hate Chicken

    • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
      8·
      2 年前

      It is pretty much the pinnacle of “white people fried chicken”. American KFC (because Asian KFC is godlike) comes close but so many people never grew up beyond eating chicken tenders and bones scare them.

      So you have inadequately seasoned chicken tenders soaked in pickle juice and people lose their minds.

      And the strong focus on Christian Values, err, “Good service” means that nobody will ever be faced with the horror that is the realization that their satisfaction is not the only reason that someone is working in fast food.

    • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
      6·
      2 年前

      Yeah, I mean, their stuff is okay but pretty unexciting IMHO. They might be inexpensive, kinda the Taco Bell route.

      • glovecraft@infosec.pub
        5·
        2 年前

        Taco Bell isn’t that cheap anymore. I ate there not long ago for the first time in years and it was over 10$ for the basic taco combo, not even Supreme. And they sucked. They were almost completely devoid of fillings. They are on my eternal shit list now.

      • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        1·
        2 年前

        Not here. Here that’s the “normal” side, eating the homophobia jesus chicken is the minority.

        Of course, all of the lgbt people I know eat also there, so I don’t feel the need to be performative about it, my friends won’t deride me for going they’ll ask for de-ride there.

  • NotAtWork@startrek.website
    91·
    2 年前

    Chick-fil-A budget

    Food $200

    Data $150

    Rent $800

    Homophobia $3,600

    Utility $150

    someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my company is dying

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
        6·
        2 年前

        I bought a sandwich for them when I read that they stopped doing all that stuff, of course they quitely started up again.

        You really aren’t missing much. It is marginally better quality compared to any chain and lower quality than a real restaurant.

  • TomMasz@lemmy.worldEnglish
    40·
    2 年前

    Just tell your customers you upped the Jesus in every sandwich and they’ll overlook everything else.

  • scoobford@lemmy.zip
    36·
    2 年前

    Fuck chick fil a. Since I worked there back in 2015, they’ve cut portion sizes by almost a third and raised priced by almost 50%.

    I call bullshit. You can source antibiotic free chicken if you’ll pay for it, they’re just trying to extract more profit again.

    • Stern@lemmy.world
      13·
      2 年前

      Insofar as I recall they’re still one of the better fast food joints wrt worker treatment.

      • scoobford@lemmy.zip
        11·
        2 年前

        It’s a very mixed bag, due to the fact that most of them are franchises.

        I remember when I quit and went to amazon, my hourly went up by more than 50%. I worked 20 hours less every week and for health insurance.

        But there’s also some near me with signs up advertising $18/hour.

        • hightrix@lemmy.world
          9·
          2 年前

          I hate to “actually” you, but i will.

          In-n-out, another franchise known for treating employees very well, uses the same system for ordering with an employee outside walking from car to car.

          The chik-fil-a near me, the outside workers all have lots of shade.

          Be mad all you want, but be mad at things that exist.

          • Jaysyn@kbin.social
            2·
            2 年前

            The chik-fil-a near me, the outside workers all have lots of shade.

            In Florida CFA drive thrus they wear little portable shade tents with built in fans, under awnings that cover the entire drive thru with multiple clusters of fans blowing down from them.

            Still hot as fuck.

        • LifeOfChance@lemmy.world
          6·
          2 年前

          No other fast food place does it because “just standing” they don’t consider to be working and they ALL run skeleton crews now. Time to lean time to clean bullshit.

          Just to be clear fuck Chick-fil-A as they also force their workers to buy $80+ jackets to deal with the weather.

          • bitchkat@lemmy.world
            4·
            2 年前

            I said yes. I’m not sure what is so hard to understand. The food there is horrible. It OK if you think its not that bad.

            • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
              5·
              2 年前

              I mean, I don’t believe you. Their chicken is known to be good. Not just my opinion. Saying otherwise puts you in the small minority, and I think you’re only saying it because you hate their politics.

              • frunch@lemmy.world
                2·
                2 年前

                No evidence hits quite as hard as ‘people are saying it’ 🙄 totally disproves the soggy chicken comments people are also saying ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

                You can’t debate someone into liking a shitty product

                • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
                  2·
                  2 年前

                  I’m not debating, I’m calling them a liar

                  I am also laughing at this weird gen Z trend of having to pretend that if a company’s practices are horrible, their product must be horrible. “Starbucks coffee sucks” lol my dude, if you don’t like caramel flavored ice cream with whipped cream on top with a shot of espresso blended in, that is a you problem.

                  Or like every time there’s a vegan thread “yeah burgers are gross anyway” uh huh sure.

                  I think you’re all lying in an attempt to fit in.

              • bitchkat@lemmy.world
                1·
                2 年前

                I’ve heard they were good and tried it a couple of times. It was the worst fast food I’ve ever had. The worst was some little cafe in WInnepeg where they gave me fried eggs instead of scrambled. When I asked for scrambled, they took it in back and chopped up the fried egg, and cooked it a little more. That does not make scrambled eggs.

          • TheOakTree@lemm.ee
            2·
            2 年前

            Entirely depends on when you go. At peak hours they’re frying chicken and packing sandwiches in advance, which means the unbreathable pouch they wrap and close off the sandwiches in cause the chicken to get VERY soggy if they aren’t sold quickly.

      • Socsa@sh.itjust.works
        7·
        2 年前

        The chicken has always been moist-soggy. This was fine when everyone else had dry as fuck chicken. Now everyone else has figured out the moist-crispy sandwich and CFA just isn’t that great.

    • eRac@lemmings.world
      13·
      2 年前

      They are facing a genuine supply issue. A different company made a sudden move because they wanted to maximize profits.

      Tyson, one of the main chicken processors, killed their no-antibiotics program at the end of 2023. They moved from claiming meat came from chickens that had had no antibiotics used (NAE) to claiming no human-relevant antibiotics had been used (NAIHM).

      The rest of the market can’t meet the demand for NAE, at least not in the short term.

    • FoolishObserver@lemmy.world
      5·
      2 年前

      “citing suppy issues”

      Hmm… our supply of cash would be bigger if we cut corners over here. The thought of the potentially bigger cash pile is now bothersome to me.

      • TIMMAY@lemmy.world
        8·
        2 年前

        if you’ve bought anything there then you are contributing directly to people who fund and support the anti-lgbtq+ movement so yes, you cannot be a customer there and also support these social movements

        • SquirtleHermit@lemmy.world
          1·
          2 年前

          While I agree with the stance that Chick-fil-a should be boycotted, I think declaring those who dont incapable of supporting lgbtq+ social movements only hurts said movements. Its not a zero sum game, and alienating potential allies is a losing strategy.

          Plus, at least as an American, its damn near impossible to survive without spending money on products that caused harm somewhere along the line. Dont be so quick to throw stones, all our hands are soaked with blood, most of us are just too busy to notice.

      • TIMMAY@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 年前

        are you regularly tasting homophobes to the point where you feel qualified to make that statement?

    • Crikeste@lemm.ee
      3·
      2 年前

      Ironically enough, they hire shit tons of LGTBQ+ people in my area and the LGBTQ+ crowd fucking stans them.

  • BombOmOm@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17·
    2 年前

    Making sure the chickens stay healthy is perfectly reasonable. Particularly if the antibiotics aren’t necessary for human medicine.

    • thesystemisdown@lemmy.worldEnglish
      88·
      2 年前

      The antibiotics are used so that the chickens don’t contract infections and die from living in inhumane conditions.

      This change allows them to increase their profit margin at the cost of animal welfare.

      • GBU_28@lemm.eeBannedEnglish
        5·
        2 年前

        That’s zero sum, from the chicken-life perspective.

        Die of infection or die by slaughter, their life isn’t changed by the variable in context.

        Edit I’m saying antibiotics are not for the animal’s wellbeing. They are a tool to extract profit, and not let the chickens die at the wrong moment. That’s it.

          • GBU_28@lemm.eeBannedEnglish
            7·
            2 年前

            Humans are clearly on a different territory from factory born animals for slaughter.

            Again, antibiotics do not change their lived experience because they get no changes in conditions in return. Antibiotics are just for human profit

            • Regna@lemmy.world
              4·
              2 年前

              I’m afraid your sarcasm and irony were unclear despite the words used. But please correct that or me.

              • GBU_28@lemm.eeBannedEnglish
                7·
                2 年前

                If you think antibiotics are to reduce animal suffering you’re deluded. It’s only to not let them die at inopportune times for the profit machine. The animals in factory farms are already experiencing suffering being belief and an early death is an escape.

                • Regna@lemmy.world
                  5·
                  2 年前

                  I am not a proponent of routine antibiotic use in any animals (including us humans), unless it’s called for as in actually saving someone’s life.

                  I was caught at one of these moments where I wasn’t sure whether it was sincerely meant or humour, and tried to be mildly sarcastic about it.

                  Edit: Double checked. Thumbs up now.

        • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world
          10·
          2 年前

          Ah yes, nothing about your entire existence matters if the way you died wasn’t in an approved fashion.

          Shit even if you just look at it in terms of the quality of the meat a stress free well fed animal will taste so much better than one that’s been stressed out its entire life fed literal garbage.

      • scottywh@lemmy.world
        4·
        2 年前

        The article specifically said they’re only going to administer antibiotics to sick chickens and those in close proximity to sick chickens, not generally as a preventative.