Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Found in U.S. Poultry

[Guest guest]

http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2002/2002-12-10-10.asp

 

 

Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Found in U.S. Poultry

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, December 10, 2002 (ENS) - Three times more antibiotics by weight

are fed to poultry in the United States than humans consume, and the poultry

industry's use of antibiotics is a health risk to American turkey and chicken

eaters, according to two independent studies released today.

The studies, one from Consumer Reports and another jointly produced by the

Sierra Club and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), raise

concerns that Americans are increasingly likely to purchase chicken contaminated

with strains of salmonella or campylobacter bacteria that are resistant to one

or more antibiotics often used to treat people.

Poultry house (Photo by Rob Flynn courtesy ARS) " It is no small problem that

bacteria on meat are getting more and more resistant to antibiotics, " said Dr.

David Wallinga, an IATP scientist and co-author of the Sierra Club/ITAP study.

" Common, brand name poultry products routinely carry at least one disease

causing germ if not more, and these bacteria are often resistant to one or more

antibiotics. The resistance we found is for many of the same medicines that

doctors rely on for treating people sick with infections, " Dr. Wallinga said.

Salmonella and campylobacter bacteria can cause fever, diarrhea and abdominal

cramps. People who are infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria are likely to

be subjected to lengthier, more serious illnesses.

Poultry industry representatives called the studies " unduly alarming to

consumers " and countered that antibiotic resistance is more likely the result of

over prescription by doctors.

In addition, U.S poultry has less bacteria now than ever before, according to

industry sources.

" The potential risk of antibiotic resistant pathogens transferring from animals

to humans via the food supply is growing smaller all the time, " according to a

joint statement from several poultry industry groups.

Microscopic fluorescent green Campylobacter cells on chicken skin. (Photo by

Anna Bates courtesy USDA Agricultural Research Service)No one argues that

salmonella and campylobacter bacteria pose a health risk to consumers. The

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that together they

account for some 3.3 million food borne infections and more than 650 deaths each

year.

Some 1.1 million Americans, according to the CDC, are sickened each year by

undercooked chicken that harbor bacteria or by food that raw chicken juices have

touched.

Poultry producers are doing everything they can to produce healthy animals, and

concern over antibiotic resistant bacteria are overblown, according to Richard

Lobb, spokesman for the National Chicken Council.

" There is always going to be some risk of unwanted bacteria, whether it is

chicken, beef or cantaloupes, " Lobb said. " There is one thing you can do to

eliminate that risk and that is to prepare and cook food properly. "

The groups who reported the studies both called for increased consumer vigilance

in the handling and preparation of chicken. Still, they believe the industry

could do more to reduce the use of antibiotics in raising poultry, especially

antibiotics that are also used to treat humans.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) estimates some 10.5 million pounds of

antibiotics are fed to American poultry each year, with some 21 percent

virtually identical to the ones doctors use to treat sick people. These include

tetracyclines, erythromycin, penicillin, bacitracin and virginiamycin.

By contrast, UCS estimates all human antibiotic use is some three million pounds

per year.

These two studies are some of the first to examine the presence of antibiotic

resistant bacteria in chicken. Consumer Reports investigators found nearly half

the 484 chickens they tested had either salmonella or campylobacter bacteria.

Some 90 percent of the campylobacter bacteria and 34 percent of the salmonella

bacteria showed some resistance to one or more antibiotics often used to treat

people.

" The bacteria counts from our 1998 report to this have gone down, " said David

Pittle, senior vice president of technology for Consumers Union, which publishes

Consumer Reports. " But this is the first data point measuring the resistance to

antibiotics, and it is a very uncomfortable starting point. "

" You need swallow just 15 to 20 salmonella bacteria or about 500 campylobacter

bacteria to become ill, " said Doug Podolsky, senior editor of Consumer Reports.

The 484 whole broiler chickens used in the Consumer Reports study were purchased

in 25 cities across the United States.

Tests conducted by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and

Sierra Club found 95 percent of the 200 chickens tested had campylobacter

bacteria, with 62 percent of the campylobacter resistant to one or more

antibiotics.

The IATP/Sierra Club study was conducted on 200 fresh whole chickens and 200

packages of ground turkey purchased from grocery stores in Des Moines, Iowa and

Minneapolis/St.Paul, Minnesota. Salmonella bacteria were found in 18 percent of

the whole chickens and 45 percent of the ground turkey samples. Of the

salmonella bacteria found in ground turkey, 62 percent were resistant to one or

more antibiotics.

Campylobacter bacteria were found in only two percent of the ground turkey. Both

campylobacter and salmonella bacteria were found in 23 percent of the chickens

sampled.

The subtherapeutic use of antibiotics, which is the use for purposes other than

treating disease, is a primary concern found by both studies. Antibiotics are

given to poultry to quicken growth and are also administered as preventive

measures to fight possible infection.

Turkeys (Photo by Scott Bauer courtesy ARS)This use is most prevalent on

factory farms that have come to dominate the U.S. poultry industry. The U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines factory broiler poultry farms as

those that contain at least 100,000 broiler chickens or 55,000 turkeys. These

factory farms account for some 97 percent of U.S. sales of boiler chickens.

" This sets the stage for the evolution of drug resistant microbes that multiply

around chicken coops, " Podolsky said. " Bacteria that survive drug treatment may

eventually contaminate carcasses during slaughtering and processing. If chicken

isn't cooked thoroughly enough, they could end up on your dinner plate and

colonize your intestines. "

Consumers Union has called on the USDA to extend its food safety program to test

for campylobacter and has also suggested the ban of subtherapeutic uses of

medically important drugs in poultry and other livestock, but the industry is

not convinced this is such a good idea.

" Banning the use of antibiotics for prevention and control, and to improve

intestinal health, is counterproductive to the objective of maintaining flock

health, " Lobb said. " In Denmark, where low level antibiotics have been banned,

disease has increased and the use of therapeutic medications has increased more

than 90 percent, " he said.

The industry's subtherapeutic use of all antibiotics is down some 30 percent

since 1996, Lobb added, and further regulations would jeopardize the economics

of the industry. Egg laying hens are packed into battery cages which are lined

up in rows in huge factory warehouses. (Photo courtesy Farm Sanctuary)Still,

Pittle and others expect Congress to look at both subtherapeutic use and at a

possible phaseout of the industry's use of antibiotics that are also used to

treat people.

The American Medical Association supports the phaseout. Some pou

ltry manufacturers have already begun to change their ways, according to

Margaret Mellon, director of UCS' Food and Environment Program.

" It doesn't take rocket science to create the healthy, non stressful conditions

that make it possible to avoid the use of antibiotics, " said Mellon. " The

European Union has now banned use of all antibiotics used as growth promoters,

and some mainstream U.S. poultry producers are pulling back from the use of

medically important antibiotics for subtherapeutic uses. "

Four of the five largest producers have stopped use of any Cipro-like

antibiotics, and a host of fast food retailers, including McDonald's, Popeye's

and Wendy's, have publicly committed to purchase poultry only produced without

these Cipro-like antibiotics.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimates some 150,000 Americans in 1999

developed a Cipro-resistant campylobacter infection from contaminated chicken.

" We don't need to use these enormous quantities of drugs to produce affordable,

safe meat, " Mellon said. " All we need to do is persuade our poultry producers to

throw away their drug crutches and move on to new, better managed systems that

don't depend on the use of excessive antibiotics. "

The IATP/Sierra Club report can be found by clicking here.

The Consumer Reports article and report can be found at: www.consumerreports.org

What You Can Do to Protect Yourself, courtesy of Consumer Reports:

 

Make chicken one of the last items you buy before heading to the checkout

line.

 

 

Pick chicken that is well wrapped and at the bottom of the case, where the

temperature should be coolest. Sell-by dates are not a perfect indicator of

freshness. We found a few spoiled chickens with sell-by dates as far away as

four to six days. If you can find a chicken with a sell-by date seven or more

days away, buy it.

 

 

Place chicken in a plastic bag like those in the produce department, to keep

its juices from leaking.

 

 

If you'll be cooking the chicken within a couple of days, store it at below

40' F. Otherwise, freeze it.

 

 

Thaw frozen chicken in a refrigerator or microwave oven, never on a counter.

Leave it in its packaging and put it on a plate, so juices can't drip.

 

 

Separate raw chicken from other foods. Immediately after preparation, use

hot, soapy water and paper towels to wash and dry your hands and anything you or

raw chicken might have touched.

 

 

Cook chicken thoroughly to kill harmful bacteria. Whole chicken should be

heated to 180 degrees F, breasts to 170 degrees. Use a thermometer; chicken that

is no longer pink can still harbor bacteria.

 

 

Don't return cooked meat to the plate that held it raw. And don't use a sauce

in which raw chicken has been marinating unless it has been brought to a rolling

boil for at least a minute.

 

 

Refrigerate or freeze leftovers within two hours of cooking.

 

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[Guest guest]

Frank, what this article barely mentions it the use of antibiotics to

promote growth in chickens (and some livestock). Poultry producers

can get a chicken from hatching to table size in 7 weeks by feeding

them antibiotics. Otherwise I believe it takes around 9 weeks. The

number one use of antibiotics in chickens is NOT to destroy pathogens

but to promote rapid growth.

 

One thing that the article does not mention at all is that many

poultry companies are owned by pharmaceutical companies in

a " vertical company " arrangement. In a vertical company arrangement,

not every division or company has to be profitable in order for the

company as a whole to make plenty of money. In other words, part of

the big profits of some pharmaceutical companies is that they are

selling antibiotics to the poultry companies/ divisions.

 

Least anyone think this information comes from some " leftwing "

source, I learned about it in a Poultry Science course I took at a

state university.

 

Victoria