A new study reports that 47% of beef, pork, chicken and turkey samples from grocery stores and supermarkets were contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria that causes a wide range of human diseases.
One hundred thirty-six packages of meat and poultry, purchased in Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Flagstaff, AZ, and Washington DC were tested for this bacteria by researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute.
They found Staphylococcus aureus present on 47% of the samples.
Even worse more than half, 53%, of the staph bacteria were found to be resistant to at least three major antibiotics.
DNA testing confirmed that the animals themselves were the source of the staph contamination.
This finding reflects a growing problem that concerns medical providers and public health experts: animals raised for food, especially those raised in large-scale agribusiness operations in which they are crowded in barns and feedlots, are fed continual doses of antibiotics from birth to slaughter to reduce outbreaks of disease.
The result is that the bacteria that normally populate the animals have had exposure to human antibiotics, and over time have mutated into strains that are resistant to them.
Medical experts fear that bacteria have evolved more rapidly than antibiotics have been developed, and that we are close to a time when our best antibiotic weapons are useless against them.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose a significant threat to very young children, the elderly and chronically ill, and anyone whose immune system is compromised, and who must rely on antibiotics to help them fend off infections.
Hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities, the very places patients turn to for care, have been found to be frequent sources of staph infections.
The primary avenue of transmission of staph from infected patients to other patient is healthcare workers.
From doctors to nurses aides, healthcare workers frequently fail to practice basichygiene procedures, like hand washing and the use of sterile gowns, enabling staph bacteria to hitch a ride from one patient to the next.
Staphylococcus aureus has many varieties and subspecies, among them those that cause many human illnesses.
Some staph infections are relatively minor, like pimples and boils and cellulitis.
Some are potentially fatal, such as meningitis, endocarditis, toxic shock syndrome, bacterial pneumonia, and osteomyelitis.
Staph bacteria are responsible for about 8% of all food poisoning cases in the US.
MRSA, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, is one of the most persistent and dangerous hospital-acquired infections.
The US Department of Agriculture, responsible for the safety of meat and poultry, tests for four antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but does not currently test for Staphylococcus aureus.
This research, published in the journal Clinical and Infectious Disease, is the first study of national scope which examines the presence of staph in the nation's meat and poultry.
Its authors raise the question of whether the USDA should begin testing for it.
Proper cooking methods kill staph bacteria.
Consumers can reduce their risk by always cooking poultry and meat to recommended temperatures.
Equally important, anyone handling uncooked meat or poultry should wash their hands after handling it, and before handling any other food.
Utensils such as knives and cutting boards should also be washed in hot soapy water after use.
The greater risk is the widespread presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.