Tests of 136 samples of meat purchased at 26 grocery stores in five US cities found antibiotic resistant strains of staphylococcus aureus contaminating about 25 percent of purchased beef, chicken, pork and turkey. Another quarter of the meat tested only had the non-resistant kind. Yum.

Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria that can cause skin infections, pneumonia, sepsis or endocarditis in people with weak hearts, was found in 47 percent of samples, said the study in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, released on Friday. … More than two million people in the United States are infected with these bacteria annually, and hundreds die.

S. aureus is not one of the four bacteria for which regulators require routine inspections, and according to the study, it was found inside the meat, not on it, so it was not likely to have come from handling. Rather, the study suggests the contamination to be the likely result of “densely-stocked industrial farms, where food animals are steadily fed low doses of antibiotics… ideal breeding grounds for drug-resistant bacteria that move from animals to humans.”

In other words, the free market at work.

17 replies on “Staphylococcus Aureus, It’s What’s for Dinner”

  2. About one quarter of people have staph in their nose or one their skin at this very moment. OMG, we’re all going to die!

  3. I’d be willing to bet that everybody has Staph A around their genitals and rectum right now. We’re all gonna die!

  4. Meat-eaters would rather not think about it, but discoveries about how filthy the meat industry is will become commonplace – maybe to the point where the response to a story about S. aureus being imbedded in meat will be, “Well, so what?”

    It’s undeniable that industrial meat-packing on a scale require to feed billions of meat eaters is unsustainable. It’ll either be impossible for growers to maintain a healthy environment for their animals at a price that is acceptable to its market or it’ll wind up poisoning its client base.

    Alice Waters has said that ultimately it is going to be necessary for people to know the real price of food. And we don’t get that at McDonald’s or at Safeway. My suggestion to those who insist on eating meat is this: Get to know a local, small producer who raises cattle (or whatever) in a sustainable, healthy fashion and pay the real price of growing meat – or stop buying meat until the industry becomes cleaner which – given the cost – may never happen.

  5. @2 It’s actually a bit closer to 100%.

    The genus Staphylococcus is extremely prevalent on, in and around humans. Staph epidermidis, for example, is a commensal and non-harmful constituent of our skins microbial community. Staph aureus is also extremely common, but probably on more like 50-75% of people. That 25% number is usually assigned the the fairly nasty methicillin resistant versions of Staph aureus.

  9. The creepy bit is it’s inside the meat. It’s not supposed to be inside the meat. You aren’t supposed to have bacteria living in your muscles or circulatory system. On your skin, sure. Inside anything but your GI tract? – no no no no no. Also, resistant anything is bad. Don’t feed it to grandma.

  10. @7 it doesn’t even have to be well done:
    USDA Recommended Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures

    * Steaks & Roasts – 145 °F
    * Fish – 145 °F
    * Pork – 160 °F
    * Ground Beef – 160 °F
    * Egg Dishes – 160 °F
    * Chicken Breasts – 165 °F
    * Whole Poultry – 165 °F

    Meat thermometers–no kitchen should be without one.

  12. 1) Although it seems intuitive that feeding low-dose antibiotics to feedlot animals would increase antibiotic resistance in bacterial populations, analysis of what has happened in European countries in terms of development of antibiotic resistance after they banned use of antibiotics for growth enhancement shows that it doesn’t seem to make that much difference. It’s a bummer, because that would be a relatively easy fix to make.
    However, it’s also true that most of the antibiotics that are fed in a “constant low dose” way to feedlot cattle don’t even have any activity against human pathogens; they modify the rumen flora. Antibiotics we might use against S. aureus tend to be given prophylactically to prevent a disease at a time when disease is likely, or simply as treatment. Granted that keeping feedlot cattle in conditions such that this is necessary can be inhumane; that’s going to have to be enough reason to stop, since the antibiotic resistance issue appears largely unrelated.

    2) If and when you choose to obtain your meat from a small local producer who keeps their stock in the pasture out back, PLEASE do not think that this meat can be more safely eaten undercooked or that kitchen cross-contamination is any less scary. The pathogens in that case are sometimes different but no less scary. If you eat meat, cook it thoroughly – or, if you feel like raw is more delicious, be aware of the associated risks.

  13. The problem isn’t that there’s staph in the meat. The problem is that there’s antibiotic resistant staph in the meat. Get that shit on your kitchen counter, then on the veggies you’re eating raw, then in yourself and you’re not going to be happy.

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