Perdue is moving protein into mainstream grocery categories and foodservice menu items with the rapid transition of its entire frozen, refrigerated and fresh value-added chicken products and all of its foodservice turkey items to NO ANTIBIOTICS EVER™ (NAE). Perdue made the announcement during the recent 2016 Annual Meat Conference in Nashville.
The transition, taking place now, will make PERDUE® the first major brand to convert all of its value-added chicken products to NO ANTIBIOTICS EVER™, providing consumers with choices in every category – fresh, refrigerated and frozen.
The conversion to NO ANTIBIOTICS EVER™ at retail includes all PERDUE® brand heat-and-eat and pre-seasoned chicken items, such as retail nuggets, strips and grilled strips. Products will hit shelves this month, with the conversion continuing through May. Perdue is distributing those products coast-to-coast.
The conversion to NO ANTIBIOTICS EVER™ for all foodservice turkey items means that more than 150 NO ANTIBIOTICS EVER™ menu items are now available to independent operators through foodservice distributors across the country. The foodservice turkey items join a complete line of NO ANTIBIOTICS EVER™ menu-ready chicken distributed under the PERDUE® HARVESTLAND® and other foodservice brands.
“In the retail sector, we’re converting all branded refrigerated and frozen convenience products to NO ANTIBIOTICS EVER™, bringing the total number of products with the claim to more than 200. In just a few months, we will take NAE mainstream, moving it beyond select fresh items and niche brands and making PERDUE® NO ANTIBIOTICS EVER™ chicken products available everywhere consumers shop for chicken in the grocery store,” said Eric Christianson, senior vice president of marketing and innovation for Perdue
The announcement follows the company’s continued efforts to minimizing antibiotic use: two-thirds of the company’s chickens are now raised without any antibiotics of any kind, up from 50 percent six months ago. And although raising turkey without antibiotics is more difficult than chicken, Perdue has nonetheless converted more than half of its turkey raising to NO ANTIBIOTICS EVER™, a major shift in turkey production practices.
