Antibiotic Stewardship

We are dedicated to advancing our antibiotic stewardship efforts designed to drive improvements and transparency in responsible antimicrobial use at Hormel Foods. Protecting human health and the health of our animals is of the utmost importance, and we are proud of our ongoing stewardship efforts.

We use medically important antibiotics responsibly—following the advice of licensed veterinarians—and never utilize them to promote animal growth, feed efficiency or weight gain on our company-owned or contract farms. Additionally, we continue to invest in efforts to raise animals without antibiotics treatment, unless it is needed, and are stewards of using alternative approaches to animal health and well-being to minimize the need for antibiotics.

Our Holistic Approach

Antibiotic Stewardship Framework

Our comprehensive antibiotic stewardship framework program is aimed at responsible use of antibiotics to improve positive animal outcomes. By focusing on our core principles of proper management, use of preventive medicine, veterinary oversight and continuous improvement, we strive to reduce antimicrobials while promoting health outcomes of animals in our supply chain. These principles are intended to help ensure stewardship programs have a clear scientific basis, are transparent, minimize the risk of unintended consequences, encourage alternatives to antibiotics and focus on long-term sustainability.

Our efforts follow relevant standards established by international and domestic governing authorities, including U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements. Our core principles underline and give rise to various company initiatives, programs and approaches, including:

Proper Management The core purpose of our management structure is to ensure production and housing systems meet the basic needs of the animals and minimize the risk of diseases. Providing an appropriate environment, including proper housing and temperature, as well as ample access to feed and water, may help animals develop healthy immune systems, which could in turn increase resiliency to infection and disease.
Preventative Medicine and Veterinary Oversight Specialized licensed internal and external veterinarians manage our disease-prevention programs, including biosecurity and animal welfare, at Hormel Foods. The veterinarians monitor and revise these programs on an ongoing basis.
Continuous Improvement Embedding a continuous improvement mindset into our processes empowers us to constantly assess — and if necessary — alter and potentially improve our strategies based on new information or scientific developments. Ongoing refinement of our approaches and a commitment to continuous improvement are critical principles of our antibiotic stewardship program, allowing us to ensure an effective approach that is designed to help us meet our goals of achieving optimal animal health and minimized disease occurrence.

Focus Areas

Our core principles underlie and give rise to various initiatives, programs and approaches. For example:

Partnering with Stakeholders Our antibiotics working group comprises of internal subject-matter experts, leading non-governmental organizations, independent veterinarians and other stakeholders. This team explores and evaluates research opportunities and participates in antibiotic initiatives in our industry. Additionally, we are engaging with the National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education (NIAMRRE) to further the dialogue and find solutions around antimicrobial resistance.
Raised Without Antibiotics Products Hormel Foods has had offerings for many years in the animals-raised-without-antibiotics product category. For example, our Applegate subsidiary in Bedminster, New Jersey, has a product portfolio produced entirely from animals raised without antibiotics. Antibiotics are still given as needed to properly care for an animal, and only approved medications and dosage levels are used under the direction of a licensed veterinarian. However, if antibiotics are given to an animal, that animal would not enter the Applegate supply chain. Additionally, we offer several raised-without-antibiotics meat and turkey foodservice items under the COLUMBUS^® and JENNIE-O^® brands.

Metrics

Turkey data

Since 2020, we have reported data pertaining to antibiotic administration including details about antibiotic class. The following report details the use of FDA medically important antibiotics in our Jennie-O network of company and contract farms.

Graph 1: The graph shows the use of FDA medically important antibiotics in the Jennie-O farm system from 2020 to 2024 based on milligrams of antibiotics used per pound of turkey meat produced.

Graph 2: The two graphs show the use of FDA medically important antibiotics by class in the Jennie-O farm system from 2022-2024.

Graph 2A: The graph shows the use of FDA medically important antibiotics by class in Jennie-O farm systems from 2022 – 2024 on an adjusted y-axis.

During 2024, the turkey industry in the U.S. was impacted by a new disease strain called avian metapneumovirus, causes immunosuppression in turkeys and allows other bacteria to grow, creating infection and increased mortality.

To combat the prevalence of secondary bacterial infections due to this disease, the Jennie-O team used the four pillars of the company’s Antibiotic Stewardship Framework and was able to keep antibiotic use relative to the same level as the previous year, on a mg/pound basis. See graph 1.

Pig Data

As part of our commitment to responsible sourcing and transparent communication, we continually evaluate how best to report on animal care practices across our supply chains. Unlike our vertically integrated turkey supply chain at Jennie-O, our pork supply chain is built on a diverse network of independent third-party producers, each with varying levels of integration and management practices.

In calendar year 2024, we sold our last company-owned hog farm, further reinforcing our reliance on independent suppliers. Because Hormel Foods does not own or operate any hog farms, we have made the decision to discontinue public reporting of antibiotics use in our pork supply chain.
As always, our company remains committed to responsible sourcing and continues to work with our supplier partners to promote animal health and welfare.

Hormel Foods and WHO Guidelines on Use of Medically Important Antimicrobials in Food-Producing Animals

As we continue to look for opportunities to evolve, we have decided to develop a working group to assess the WHO Guidelines on the Use of Medically Important Antimicrobials in Food-Producing Animals.

As it relates to the WHO Guidelines, Hormel Foods reinforces our commitment to antibiotic stewardship and our support of the essence of the WHO Guidelines:

The company already supports a number of World Health Organization Guidelines, and it recently made significant commitments that correspond to the WHO principles.
We agree with the WHO Guidelines that the use of medically important antibiotics should be reduced, including in food-producing animals, while acknowledging the need to account for any animal welfare concerns.
We have also made commitments to strive to achieve a reduction in the use of medically important antimicrobials, as per WHO guidelines.
We currently comply with the WHO Guidelines recommendation to eliminate use of medically important antimicrobials for growth promotion, based on the current guidance published by the FDA.
While Hormel Foods is aligned with several key points contained in the WHO Guidelines, there are a few notable areas where we follow a different path. These tend to be related to topics where WHO has stated that a recommendation is a “conditional recommendation, with very low-quality evidence.”