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Friday, May 24th, 2013

Superbugs Invade American Supermarkets

Author:    
Source:     Environmental Working Group
Publication Date:     April 2013 (Used 24 May 2013)
 Link: Superbugs Invade American Supermarkets
Stephan:   Here is the latest on the collapse of safety in the American food system. I urge you to download the entire report, SUPERBUGS INVADE AMERICAN SUPERMARKETS by the Environmental Working Group. I am using a shorter story here because the April 2013 report is simply too long for SR, but I think everyone would be well advised to read the full report. It is to be found at: http://static.ewg.org/reports/2013/meateaters/ewg_meat_and_antibiotics_report2013.pdf The report by the Environmental Working Group reveals, yet again, how our society has degenerated to the point that profit is the only priority, and the health of the American people, and the animals they eat is secondary, if considered at all. If you don't download the report, at least click through to see the charts and tables that accompany this short form. They will bring home the reality of this disaster in the making.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are now common in the meat aisles of American supermarkets. These so-called superbugs can trigger foodborne illness and infections that are hard to treat.

An analysis by the Environmental Working Group has determined that government tests of raw supermarket meat published last February 5 detected antibiotic-resistant bacteria in:

Detected Percents

These little-noticed tests, the most recent in a series conducted by the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System, a joint project of the federal Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Department of Agriculture, found that supermarket meat samples collected in 2011 harbored significant amounts of the superbug versions of salmonella and Campylobacter, which together cause 3.6 million cases of food poisoning a year.

Moreover, the researchers found that some 53 percent of raw chicken samples collected in 2011 were tainted with an antibiotic-resistant form of Escherichia coli, or E. coli, a microbe that normally inhabits feces. Certain strains of E. coli can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections and pneumonia. The extent of antibiotic-resistant E. coli on chicken is alarming because bacteria readily share antibiotic-resistance genes.

Not surprisingly, superbugs spawned by antibiotic misuse — and now pervasive in the meat Americans buy — have become a direct source of […]

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