The FDA’s suggestion that the meat industry voluntarily stop feeding antibiotics by the ton to farm animals to fatten them faster falls short of the changes needed to forestall the epidemic of antibiotic resistance.
The emergence of pathogens resistant to even our antibiotics of last resort has raised the specter of a “post-antibiotic age” in which drugs to fight infections may be useless. This has focused attention on the mass use of antibiotics in farm animal feed to promote growth and prevent infection in high density production.
More than a thousand retail meat samples have been tested for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) contamination in North America.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus “superbug” found not only contaminating the U.S. retail meat supply, but isolated from air samples outside swine CAFOs.
An investigation finds 47% of U.S. retail meat tested is contaminated with staph (Staphylococcus) bacteria. Turkey appears most likely to harbor contagion.
Disinfectants used to sanitize cow udders may provide a source of iodine for dairy consumers, but can also increase the concentration of pus in milk from cows with staph infection mastitis.
