HAPEL HILL -- Organizers of an event at the Barbecue Joint in Chapel Hill highlighted what they called the misuse of antibiotics in food animal production with a protest Monday.

They also wanted to spread awareness about the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act.

“The PAMTA legislation strengthens the current law to begin to account for and record how much of these antibiotics are really being used and what manner they are being used with the eventual goal of restricting and eliminating the nontheripudic uses of these antibiotics,” Scott Falmelen, of the Pew Health Group, said.

Opponents of antibiotics in animal production say antibiotics have many adverse effects on the meat we eat, including the stimulation of faster weight gain and the development of deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria.