The Superbug in Your Supermarket

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The Superbug in Your Supermarket

A potentially deadly new strain of anti-biotic-resistant microbes may be

widespread in our food supply. Protect your loved ones with Prevention's

Special Report.

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About 2 years ago, dozens of workers at a large _chicken_

(http://recipes.prevention.com/RecipeSearch/chicken-Recipes.aspx) hatchery in

Arkansas

began experiencing mysterious skin rashes, with painful lumps scattered over

their _hands_

(http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/take-time-off-your-hands/8f23100c9d814110\

VgnVCM10000013281eac____/lifelong.beauty/anti.aging.arsenal/p

roducts) , arms, and legs. " They hurt real bad, " says Joyce Long, 48, a

32-year veteran of the hatchery, where until recently, workers handled eggs

and chicks with bare _hands_

(http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/take-time-off-your-hands/8f23100c9d814110\

VgnVCM10000013281eac____/lifelong.beauty/anti

..aging.arsenal/products) . " When we went and got cultured, doctors told us

we had a superbug. " Its name, she learned, was MRSA, or

methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. This form of staph bacteria

developed a mutation

that resists antibiotics (including methicillin), making it hard to treat,

even lethal. According to the CDC, certain types of MRSA infections kill

18,000 Americans a year--more than die from AIDS.

 

Soon coworkers at the nearby processing plant, where hundreds of thousands

of _chicken_

(http://recipes.prevention.com/RecipeSearch/chicken-Recipes.aspx) carcasses

are prepped daily for sale, began finding the lumps. Dean

Reeves, 50, an 11-year employee, went to the hospital with an excruciating

bump on her thigh she thought was a spider bite. It wasn't: She, too, had

contracted MRSA, as had her husband, Bill, 46, who also works at the facility.

Since late 2007, Dean has had monthly relapses. Even the safety glasses,

gloves, and smocks workers wear (along with upgraded regular cleaning of

equipment) aren't enough to protect them, says Bill. " We work so fast, we

often stick ourselves with knives or scissors and get blood on us from head to

foot. " When a swelling rose over one of his eyes, he was told he might go

blind; if the infection progressed to his brain, he'd die.

 

Did any _food safety_

(http://www.prevention.com/cda/categorypage.do?channel=nutrition.recipes & categor\

y=grocery.guru & topic=food.safety.basics) agency

test for MRSA in this plant's chickens, which were then sold to the public

and served on American dinner tables? Did any government organization

determine the source of the outbreak? Calls to the USDA, CDC, and Arkansas

Department of _Health_

(http://www.prevention.com/cda/channelpage.do?channel=health) yielded a no to

both questions; the _poultry_

(http://recipes.prevention.com/RecipeSearch/poultry-Recipes.aspx) company that

owns the operation

did not respond to multiple requests for a comment from Prevention. Yet in

recent years, studies have found MRSA in retail cuts of pork, _chicken_

(http://recipes.prevention.com/RecipeSearch/chicken-Recipes.aspx) , beef, and

other meats in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

 

To get answers, we investigated how MRSA has entered our food supply with

limited government response; we considered the massive use of antibiotics

in agriculture and its role in creating resistant microbes like MRSA; and we

examined the safety of supermarket meat. Here, we offer our findings and

expert advice to protect you and your family.

Are You At Risk?

You've probably heard of people contracting certain strains of MRSA in

hospitals, where it causes many illnesses: postsurgical infections, pneumonia,

bacteremia, and more. Others encounter different types of the bug in

community centers such as gyms, where skin contact occurs and items like sports

equipment are shared; this form causes skin infections that may become

systemic and turn lethal.

 

Then in 2008, a new source and strain of MRSA emerged in the United

States. Researcher Tara Smith, PhD, an assistant professor of epidemiology at

the

University of Iowa, studied two large Midwestern hog farms and found the

strain, ST398, in 45% of farmers and 49% of pigs. The startling discovery--

and the close connection between animal _health_

(http://www.prevention.com/cda/channelpage.do?channel=health) and our own that

it implied--caused

widespread publicity and much official hand-wringing. To date, though, the

government has yet to put a comprehensive MRSA inspection process in place,

let alone fix our problematic meat-production system.

 

You may not have the same close contact with meat that a processing plant

worker has, but scientists warn there is reason for concern: Most of us

handle meat daily, as we _bread_

(http://recipes.prevention.com/RecipeSearch/bread-Recipes.aspx) _chicken_

(http://recipes.prevention.com/RecipeSearch/chicken-Recipes.aspx) cutlets,

trim fat from _pork_

(http://recipes.prevention.com/RecipeSearch/Pork-Recipes.aspx) , or form

chopped _beef_

(http://recipes.prevention.com/RecipeSearch/Beef-Recipes.aspx) into burgers.

Cooking

does kill the microbe, but MRSA thrives on skin, so you can contract it by

touching infected raw meat when you have a cut on your hand, explains Stuart

Levy, MD, a Tufts University professor of microbiology and medicine. MRSA

also flourishes in nasal passages, so touching your nose after touching

meat gives the bug another way into your body, adds Smith.

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