Staph Infected Meat

It may just be time to pack up the ol’ steak knives with this latest bit of truly revolting meat industry press. A recent study found that 47% of meat and poultry products purchased at grocery stores in five US cities were contaminated with drug-resistant strains of staph bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus can cause skin infections and a variety of other diseases if left untreated. Perhaps even more appalling is the finding that 52% of the contaminated meat products contained staph bacteria resistant to three or more types of antibiotics. This finding carries broader implications regarding the widespread and often indiscriminant use of antibiotics in industrial farming and food-animal production and the role they play in breeding drug-resistant bacteria in the nation’s food supply. Meatless Mondays, anyone? [AZ Central]