Thinking of grilling a steak this weekend? Well, don't read this, then: a disturbing new study revealed that about a quarter of all meat and poultry sampled from around the United States have drug-resitant strains of Staphylococcus aureus.
About half — 47% of the samples — contained S. aureus, the researchers reported Friday in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Of those bacteria, 52% were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics. DNA testing suggested the animals were the source of contamination. The research was funded by the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.
"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," said Lance Price, lead author of the study and director of TGen's Center for Food Microbiology and Environmental Health, said in a news release.
It's not about whether eating a steak will make you sick, it's about how the abuse of antibiotics in factory farms is leading to more resilient bacteria. Infections from these bacteria will be increasingly difficult to treat when you become sick from these emerging strains of bacteria, which you inevitably will-- not just from undercooked meats, but also from vegetables fertilized with contaminated manure.
Buy local, from responsible farmers. Only money talks, high and mighty social argument does nothing.