BACTERIA IN FOOD 1/3/2012

Hello to everyone–Our first post of 2012.Check out a New York Times article of

December 27,2011 by Mark Bittman.Over the past several years multiple food borne

illness outbreaks have occurred involving a wide variety of foods –for example,

peanut butter, pot-pies, sprouts,ground turkey. Bittman’s article refers to a study

carried out in Phoenix Arizona.The research center studied 80 brands of ground

beef,pork,chicken and turkey.the findings are startling:

1.47% contained Staphylococcus aureus.

2. 52% were resistant to at least 3 classes of antibiotics

3.If you are buying pre-ground products there is at least a 25% chance that  you

may be consuming a drug resistant bacteria that may either immediately cause

disease or set up a colonization state and later a drug resistant infection.

Implications and thoughts regarding the above.

1.Never buy ground meat products that are not ground on site.

2.Always assume that vegetables , and meat products are contaminated with bacteria.

3.Practice good hand washing when dealing with the above and with decontamination \

of your work surface  and utensils.

4.The biggest factors driving this explosion of contaminated food are :

         a.Centralization of food processing into giant operations which supply

large portions of the country.

        b.Inappropriate use of antibiotics in Animal feed. 80% of the antibiotics

used in this country are used in animal feeds. A shocking and indefensible number.

Many researchers feel that the very high percentage of MRSA in

Mississippi can be traced in part to the very high utilization of  antibiotics in

the chicken industry.   Dr. Smith