Consumer Reports research released on raw poultry, found that nearly 50 percent of supermarket chicken, regardless of the brand, carried an antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to CBS News.
Consumer Reports tested 316 raw chicken breasts from supermarkets around the country and found potentially harmful bacteria, including enterococcus (typical a measure of fecal contamination), campylobacter, klebsiella pneumonia, and staph, in 97 percent of their samples.
The report, titled "The High Cost of Cheap Chicken," found that one in six contained at least one type of bacteria like, E.coli and salmonella, which are common causes of food poisoning. The research noted that major brands, such as Perdue, Tyson, Sanderson Farms and Pilgrim's, contained similar bacteria to those packages labeled "organic" or "antibiotic free."
"Most troubling, when we looked at all of the chicken breasts we tested, about half harbored at least one bacterium that was resistant to three or more common families of antibiotics," said Dr. Urvashi Rangan, director of consumer safety and sustainability for Consumer Reports. "The problem with that is that when you give these animals antibiotics every single day and it goes out into the manure, you're literally proliferating resistant organisms that aren't killed by those antibiotics but rather become resistant to them."
About 49.7 percent carried at least one kind of bacterium resistant to three or more types of antibiotics and 11 percent had two types of bacteria resistant to various drugs.
"The legitimate fear is that the antibiotics we use for human infections are going to be compromised by the use in food animals," food safety epidemiologist Dr. Maurice Pitesky told Food Safety News. "But we need to separate that from antibiotic resistance that might just be natural or insignificant."
The report is calling for stricter limits on the use of medications for livestock. Consumer Reports, which described itself as the world's largest independent product-testing organization, said it is difficult to treat people who have become ill from eating poultry with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
"Our tests did not reveal any better choice, despite some differences among brands and types," Rangan said. "You really want to make sure to cook chicken until it reaches 165 degrees in the center."
The Food and Drug Administration issued new voluntary guidelines limiting the use of antibiotics with chicken over the next three years, which Consumer Reports stated is a step in the right decision. The Agriculture Department has the authority to prevent the sale of meat that they believe is contains salmonella bacteria, resistant to multiple antibiotics.
Rangan stresses people wash their hands, after handling raw meat. Bacteria can be killed by cooking the poultry to 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Avoid possible cross contamination by using a separate cutting board for their raw meats and vegetables.
