UMass Amherst pledges to serve antibiotic-free chicken

After a 2015 survey of 4,000 University of Massachusetts Amherst students indicated that responsible food sourcing was important to them, the university’s dining services has pledged to serve antibiotic-free chicken in all of its retail and dining operations starting next month.

UMass Dining serves 6 million meals per year and says it is one of the first universities to offer antibiotic-free meat on such a large scale, estimating that it serves 750,000 pounds of antibiotic-free chicken and turkey annually.

“Switching to no-antibiotic-ever chicken is the right thing to do,” said Ken Toong, executive director of Auxiliary Enterprises at UMass Amherst in a statement. “Not only are the students demanding it, but as the largest campus dining operation in the United States, we wanted to take a leadership role in the foodservice industry by making this pledge.”