Posted on 04/15/2011 6:32:23 AM PDT by decimon
Multi-drug-resistant Staph found in nearly 1 in 4 samples, review shows
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — April 15, 2011 — Drug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria linked to a wide range of human diseases, are present in meat and poultry from U.S. grocery stores at unexpectedly high rates, according to a nationwide study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).
Nearly half of the meat and poultry samples — 47 percent — were contaminated with S. aureus, and more than half of those bacteria — 52 percent — were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics, according to the study published today in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
This is the first national assessment of antibiotic resistant S. aureus in the U.S. food supply. And, DNA testing suggests that the food animals themselves were the major source of contamination.
Although Staph should be killed with proper cooking, it may still pose a risk to consumers through improper food handling and cross-contamination in the kitchen.
Researchers collected and analyzed 136 samples — covering 80 brands — of beef, chicken, pork and turkey from 26 retail grocery stores in five U.S. cities: Los Angeles, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Flagstaff and Washington, D.C.
"For the first time, we know how much of our meat and poultry is contaminated with antibiotic-resistant Staph, and it is substantial," said Lance B. Price, Ph.D., senior author of the study and Director of TGen's Center for Food Microbiology and Environmental Health.
"The fact that drug-resistant S. aureus was so prevalent, and likely came from the food animals themselves, is troubling, and demands attention to how antibiotics are used in food-animal production today," Dr. Price said.
Densely-stocked industrial farms, where food animals are steadily fed low doses of antibiotics, are ideal breeding grounds for drug-resistant bacteria that move from animals to humans, the report says.
"Antibiotics are the most important drugs that we have to treat Staph infections; but when Staph are resistant to three, four, five or even nine different antibiotics — like we saw in this study — that leaves physicians few options," Dr. Price said.
"The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria — including Staph — remains a major challenge in clinical medicine," said Paul S. Keim, Ph.D., Director of TGen's Pathogen Genomics Division and Director of the Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics at Northern Arizona University (NAU).
"This study shows that much of our meat and poultry is contaminated with multidrug-resistant Staph. Now we need to determine what this means in terms of risk to the consumer," said Dr. Keim, a co-author of the paper.
The U.S. government routinely surveys retail meat and poultry for four types of drug-resistant bacteria, but S. aureus is not among them. The paper suggests that a more comprehensive inspection program is needed.
S. aureus can cause a range of illnesses from minor skin infections to life-threatening diseases, such as pneumonia, endocarditis and sepsis.
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The study was supported through a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts as part of The Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.
About TGen
The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is a Phoenix, Arizona-based non-profit organization dedicated to conducting groundbreaking research with life changing results. Research at TGen is focused on helping patients with diseases such as cancer, neurological disorders and diabetes. TGen is on the cutting edge of translational research where investigators are able to unravel the genetic components of common and complex diseases. Working with collaborators in the scientific and medical communities, TGen believes it can make a substantial contribution to the efficiency and effectiveness of the translational process. TGen is affiliated with the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For more information, visit: www.tgen.org.
Ping
Obviously, we need more government involvement. Lots more. Like, trillions of dollars more involvement. For the children.
Another reason not to eat raw meat. (I already had plenty).
I notice they avoided using the term MRSA in the article.
Another study that validates my decision to only buy meat from a local butcher who owns the farm on which the animals are raised. Aside from getting incredible cuts of meat that have no injected solutions, haven’t been irradiated, and are cut the way I want, the flavor of grass fed beef is incredible. The cost is less, contrary to popular belief. Nothing beats a juicy, butter soft, tender slab of ribeye cooked over an open flame - That crap they call meat at most supermarkets is horrid.
I have read that the volume coming out of commercial meatpackers allows them to stay well within the parts per million on the ‘legally allowable’ items allowed to stray into meat, such as rat droppings and insect carcasses. An average commercial meatpacker that churns out ground beef produces packages of meat that contain the DNA of about 1000 cows - how’s that for controlling the quality of the food chain. No thanks! I’ll stick with the butcher that I know, as opposed to armies of illegals churning out millions of pound of beef and chicken in cesspools.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. I think this is more general.
bttt
Oh Boy, here we go with the control of food...
Environmentalists are scaring the hell out of children with wicked fairy tails of planet-wide bleak destruction and drowning polar bears, and adults too lazy to do the math and some reading on basic earth geology are allowing themselves to be frightened (in the same way that stone-age people are frightented by solar eclipses) as well. Liberals are scaring the hell out of everyone by predicting dire, deadly consequences if their favorite pork projects are cut. Doctors are scaring the hell out of people (and giving them osteoporosis) by having them slather themselves with ridiculously high-numbered sun screen, blocking vitamin D and causing other problems. Edumacators are scaring the hell out of parents and young people by convincing them of a falsehood -- that they must have a college education to get anywhere, and therefore putting a huge amount of financial stress on people in order to pay for this myth. Hospitals are scaring the hell out of you with a constant barrage of advertisements suggesing that if you don't have cancer yet, by gosh, you're going to get it sooner or later but we can help.
And now this crap about contaminated meat. It just goes on and on. Understand that PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SCARE THE HELL OUT OF YOU SO THEY CAN CONTROL YOU AND YOUR MONEY.
I like using our local farm and our local butcher. Nothing is mixed into or injected into the meat. BPI and others get away with not putting ammonia on the ingredient label because it's considered standard processing procedure. It's for e. coli, but there are other ways to take care of that.
Learn to kill it, skin it, gut it, and butcher it. With a meat grinder you have ground meat and sausage.
Same with fishing.
Great survival skills.
Have fun and save money!
Which probably means it is a potentially worse problem.
In large measure this is the result of government control of food.
Why am I not surprised?
I don't think this as anything new. I've read in the past that some 'stomach flus' and the like are actually mild food poisoning.
Concur.
Thanks decimon. This wouldn’t happen if the socialists in Washington DC would pull the plug on ethanol subsidies and other agricultural subsidies. /s
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