Costco Rejects Chile’s Farmed Salmon Over Record-High Use Of Antibiotics

By Anthony Esposito SANTIAGO, July 23 - Chile's salmon farmers are using record levels of antibiotics to treat a virulent and pervasive bacteria, driving away some U.S. retailers including Costco Wholesale Corp, which is turning to antibiotic-free Norwegian salmon. Still, amid growing concerns in the U.S. food industry that heavy use of antibiotics in animals can spawn drug-resistant superbugs and endanger human health, Costco told Reuters in April that it would reduce imports of Chilean salmon. A former executive at a Chilean salmon producer said Costco's move could hurt the local industry's reputation and spur other retailers to follow suit. "The final product consumers eat has no antibiotics," said Ricardo Garcia, chief executive of salmon producer Camanchaca, which reported nearly $500 million in sales last year. "We're faced with a reality in Chile, unlike Norway, where we haven't developed vaccines for the Chilean market, leading us to often correct things with the use of antibiotics," said Gerardo Balbontin, chief executive of Blumar, which exports a tenth of its salmon production to Costco.