President Barack Obama is waging a battle against the use of antibiotics in meat, and he’s starting it by eliminating poultry and other meats from federal cafeterias.

The White House announced yesterday it would require that the meat it serves in federal cafeterias would have to have fewer antibiotics — standards that will need to be in place at all government restaurants within five years, according to an Associated Press report.

It’s a major salvo in the President Obama’s battle to reduce the overuse of antibiotics, which scientists fear can lead to germs that become resistant to drugs and causing those drugs to not be effective anymore. About 23,000 deaths and 2 million sicknesses annually are caused by drug-resistant bacteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As a result, the White House has been holding a summit on using antibiotics responsibly, and the Obama administration unveiled a plan earlier this year to battle that threat. One of the ways to do that is to stop using it so much in animals that we eat.

Drug companies have been phasing out antibiotic use in animal growth promotion at the behest of the Food and Drug Administration.

A total of 150 food companies, hospitals, and pharmaceutical firms have committed to stopping the spread of drug-resistant “superbugs,” according to the report.

Wal-Mart, for example, urged its suppliers to slow its use of antibiotics in its farm animals, and McDonald’s reached out to chicken suppliers to reduce their antibiotic use. Tysons Foods expects to eliminate antibiotics entirely by September 2017.