McDonald's policy discriminatory

A McDonald's store in Wuhu, Anhui Province. [Photo /Xinhua]

Chinese diners may have to wait for another decade to get antibiotics-free meat meals at McDonald's. The fast food chain will ban the use of antibiotics classified by the World Health Organization as "Highest Priority Critically Important Antimicrobials" for human medicine in many of its markets from next year, and extend the ban to Australia and Russia by the end of 2019.

But the ban will be extended to markets such as China only by 2027.

McDonald's decision has raised concerns among Chinese customers, who feel discriminated against yet again by some multinationals. McDonald's China has said it adheres to its global goal of eliminating the use of antibiotics in meat products in the Chinese market, while working closely with government departments, suppliers, industry associations and scholars to promote the industry's sustainable development.

But is China not on the list because it lags behind in antibiotics management? Not exactly. The US and the European Union issued regulations to ban antibiotics in fodder years ago, while China revised its veterinary drugs regulation last year and the regulation on fodder and fodder additives early this year. So whatever be the reasons behind McDonald's refusal to ban the use of antibiotics in its Chinese outlets, the lack of legal instruction is not one of them.

Perhaps McDonald's doesn't want to extend the ban to its Chinese market to save the extra cost of doing so. Its weak explanation about why Chinese diners have to wait longer could end up angering and estranging them. The least it can do is to give a specific timetable for the ban.