Last week, I wrote a column about the disturbingly high rate of MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or drug-resistant staff bacteria) found in samples of fresh pork, beef and chicken purchased in North American supermarkets.
More than 5 percent of the pork sold in supermarkets in Baton Rouge and roughly one-in-seven pork chops sold in Canada were found to be harboring the bacteria, which now kills more Americans each year than AIDS.
In that piece, I wrote that some scientists believed that the MRSA contamination happened at meat processing plants, and did not come from infected animals -- including those raised in large, crowded factory farms that use antibiotics in feed to promote animal growth and prevent disease.
But wherever the MRSA was coming from, I wanted to know why the infected meat was not being recalled, especially since 550 million eggs were called back last month due to salmonella contamination.
It turned out that nobody in the government -- not the FDA, not the USDA, not the Consumer Product Safety Commission -- was even testing for MRSA in meat, let alone mandating or even suggesting any recalls.
This seemed like a bad idea to me, and I said so.
Some commenters accused me of being alarmist, and claimed that MRSA cannot be transmitted by eating contaminated food. (They ignored the fact that bringing raw meat with MRSA into your home can infect anyone who handles it, especially if they have cuts or sores, touch their nose to spread the germs, or are immune challenged).
Today, I am pleased to write that the USDA shares my concerns.
I was interviewed for a story that ran today on AOL's "Consumer Ally" page, in which reporter Gergana Koleva managed to get this rather surprising but very welcome statement from the agency's Food Safety Inspection Service:
"The Food Safety Inspection Service is aware of and takes seriously the concerns related to MRSA and other emerging food safety threats. [We] have formed a work group to develop a risk profile for MRSA that will be used to guide potential future actions related to this matter," said a spokesman for the FSIS, the public health unit of the USDA, in an email to Consumer Ally.
That is excellent news. Let's hope that any "potential future actions" include greatly reducing the chance of bringing this potentially killer, drug-resistant bug into your home.
Is that alarmist? Perhaps. But read just one of the other comments from my last piece, one from the relative of a MRSA victim, and you might feel a slight sense of alarm yourself.
My three-year-old nephew spent three weeks in intensive care battling a (swine-associated) MRSA ST-398 infection, which literally ate him alive. The infection began on his upper leg/groin area; within in a week he required a feeding tube and ran fevers spiking at 108 degrees. When antibiotics don't work, the only way to bring the fever down is by ice-packing and freezing showers. He was hallucinating and was sedated for much of the time. He dropped to 21 pounds and shook violently even in his sleep. He survived by the grace of God, and no human being should ever have to watch a child (or anyone) endure this.
I don't think that my blog had anything to do with the formation of the new USDA work group on MRSA, but I do think the government is paying more attention to the safety of our food supply.
And that is something that we should all support.
David Kirby is author of "Animal Factory - The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy and Poultry Farms to Humans and the Environment" (St. Martin's Press)
Theres two kinds of government bodies: corrupt or democratic.
Which one is this?
http://dogsinthenews.com/issues/0209/articles/020918a.htm
Doy!
I doubt anything will change though, unless people see someone close suffer extremely. A pity that everyone has to suffer exposure because of the selfishness of a few ...
I have never heard about meat being inspected for MRSA here either. Besides, whenever there is news about rotten meat having reached stores, the German government doesn't tell us what brands are affected - we do not have the right to know this. So Europe is not really better in many respects.
A more important use of resources would be to work to prevent the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, which is the driving force behind the evolution of resistant bacteria like MRSA. Agriculture is a major player, particularly the factory farms that use antibiotics indiscriminately in healthy animals. But we can all play a part by not using antibiotics for colds or other viral infections.
This needs much more publicity, Agri-business is very powerful, and without public outcry, government agencies may not have the will, the power, or the funding, to do all they should.
BTW, children need quality sources of protein. Denying them meat, eggs, and dairy serves your particular religious view (your belief, not fact) on this issue and certainly not children.
The internet is awash with information. I suggest you take five minutes and look up vegan diet. I am vegan and have been for 8 years (I was vegetarian for over 20). There is so much variety in the vegan diet now it boggles the mind. I never go without. I am lacking nothing. Although I did not mandate a vegan diet for my children, protein would have been the furthest worry from my mind. Chicken nuggets, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, pizza are all available for organic vegans. My children eat them. Unprompted.
There are so many other sources of nutrients on this planet, we do not need to kill innocent beings to satisfy our dietary needs.
We do that to satisfy our taste buds.
To some it may seem a distinction without a difference, but it will be important for the government to determine if the animals are "infected", i.e. the bacteria grew in the tissue of the animal and is found in the meat, or if the meat is "contaminated" on exposed surfaces with bacteria from the hands of the handlers and plant personnel that render them.
Contamination is, for example, how E. Coli comes to be found in ground beef. Salmonella is from an endemic infection in a chicken hen population passing the organism into their eggs as they are formed. The solutions to each are somewhat different, but the essential element to prevent both is the same, ... improved hygiene in the environments where livestock feed, live, are slaughtered and packaged. The issue is the same as it was over one hundred years ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle
What has changed since that time is the ubiquitous addition of antibiotics to feedstock, to suppress spoilage and suppress certain bacterial illnesses in livestock. Residual antibiotics in meat and other livestock-based products can contribute to the development of allergies to those antibiotic types in the people who eat them, as well as providing a selective breeding environment for organisms which resist the antibiotic, as MRSA and several other organisms have done in human populations from poor strategies of antibiotic use.
Vaccinations are more effective when available, than constantly giving antibiotics.
Don't you worry about giving livestock autism?
What we'd like to know is why some one like your self would be called "alarmist" - when ever one of you guys try to inform the General Public about some thing that Conscience demands you do....??
Apart from the on going Financial messes that bother us - our children's Education and our Family's Health, the Quality of our Food is another pet peeve - to put it lightly - that Moms in our circle are very concerned about.
We strongly believe we have a right to know what they know and that they know!! So we can advocate well and in a timely fashion for proper Quality of our Food, which is one way to keep our kids healthy & prevent future health problems.
Most ordinary folk, especially Moms always get told whenever they raise a concern - "oh have'nt heard that, no one else has complained, really, dont know, you're the only one" etc., etc..... Always the same play for time, deny, give the run around response.... Y'know....
Once the Media mentions the same thing we raise, things go better, faster, and there's bigger chance for proper resolution. Saves us time & energy.
We're already aware and concerned about problems with the Food produced & manufactured today.
But - Keep letting us know Facts & giving us Proof.
Thank you.
Some Moms