Washington hospital doubles efforts to use meat without antibiotics

Dec. 13—Overlake Medical Center in Bellevue, Wash., announced today that it has doubled its efforts to use meat raised without antibiotics, just as the Food and Drug Administration took steps this week toward phasing out the use of some antibiotics in animals processed for meat, citing a potential threat to public health.

Working with suppliers, Overlake Executive Chef Christopher Linaman was able to make significant strides in increasing the percentage of meat raised without antibiotics used at Overlake. Approximately 45% of the meat Overlake uses in patient and visitor meals is raised without antibiotics, besting the hospital’s progress of 19% from its most recent fiscal year.

“By June 2014, my goal was for 30% of the meat we served to be raised without antibiotics. I was very excited when I realized that we had already reached nearly 45%,” Linaman said.