UPDATE: Maryn McKenna has posted an in-depth review of this research paper on her Superbug Blog.
Multi-Drug Resistant Staph in 1 in 4 Meat Samples
Highly recommended.
# 5493
From the The Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix, Arizona we get research showing that 47% of the meat (beef, chicken, pork and turkey) collected and tested from 26 stores across 5 US Cities (Los Angeles, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Flagstaff and Washington, D.C.) were contaminated with Staph aureus.
Roughly half of those — 52 % — were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics.
Which gives you about a 1 in 4 chance of selecting a package containing resistant staph from your butcher’s case.
Although cooking meat to the proper temperature will kill the Staph bacteria, improper handling and cleanup can expose the preparer (and others) to potentially dangerous bacteria.
The results of their study will appear in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases later today, but we have a preview in the form of a press release.
A few excerpts, but follow the link to read it in its entirety.
The Translational Genomics Research Institute
Nationwide study finds US meat and poultry is widely contaminated
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 misuse of antibiotics in agriculture and the carriage of MRSA (and other pathogens) by farm animals has been an ongoing topic of discussion by Flublogia’s resident expert on antimicrobial resistance - Maryn McKenna – on her Superbug Blog and in her book SUPERBUG: The Fatal Menace of MRSA.
The CDC provides some safe food handling advice on their Be Food Safe webpage.
And for more specific information, the USDA’s Food Safety Webpage provides more than two dozen PDF Guidelines in English and in Spanish for free download.
While treating raw meat as a biohazard on your kitchen counter only makes sense, the larger problem of controlling the spread of resistant bacteria on the farm and in food products remains.
And as the research above shows, that problem is large, widespread, and appears to be growing.
