Posted on 06/24/2007 6:10:19 PM PDT by blam
Supermarket meat 'could be MRSA infected'
By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:39am BST 25/06/2007
Pork, beef and chicken in supermarkets could be infected with a strain of MRSA, according to a report today by organic campaigners which warns that the issue could become "a new monster".
The bacterium is sweeping northern Europe and has already infected one in five of all pork products on sale in Holland, from where Britain imports almost two thirds of all its pork, the report claims.
The strain found in Holland, Denmark, Belgium and Germany is different from MRSA found in British hospitals, which was a contributory factor in 3,800 deaths in 2005.
However, the report by the Soil Association, the organic pressure group, claims that the bug found in European meat is just as deadly and infectious. It is resistant to tetracycline antibiotics, the most common drugs used to cure hospital MRSA.
So far no meat or farm animals in this country have been found to be infected with the European strain. However, no testing for the microbe in pork or chicken is done.
Only cattle are tested - the least likely animal to be infected - and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) does not test any imported meat.
The Soil Association is calling on the Government to start testing for the superbug in meat as a matter of urgency.
The FSA yesterday said that it was monitoring the situation closely but added that worried consumers should follow the advice given to avoid salmonella. "Proper cooking will destroy MRSA," it said in a statement.
The worry, however, is that though the bug is killed by cooking the meat thoroughly, it is easy to become infected by handling raw meat.
Richard Young, of the Soil Association, said: "It is all very well cooking the meat well, and washing your hands before sitting down to eat your meal. All you need to do is scratch your nose while handling the meat for you to become infected."
Almost half of Dutch pig farmers carry MRSA - a prevalence 1,500 times higher than in the overall Dutch population. The Netherlands exports six million pigs a year to its neighbours.
The Soil Association claims that it is only a matter of time before MRSA is found in domestic meat, and that the heavy use of antibiotics in British farming makes infection more likely.
A spokesman for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: "Antibiotics are vital to protect the health of farm livestock."
He reiterated that no cases of MRSA had been found in Britain. "Defra keeps the surveillance of MRSA under active review and surveillance is prioritised in consultation with colleagues working in the medical field, bearing in mind the most recent findings relating to humans in the UK."
Crappy reporting again. What does MRSA stand for? All the other initials are explained.
Overview of Healthcare-associated MRSA
Go to Community-Associated MRSA
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) is a type of bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics. These antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. Staph infections, including MRSA, occur most frequently among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities (such as nursing homes and dialysis centers) who have weakened immune systems.
MRSA infections that are acquired by persons who have not been recently (within the past year) hospitalized or had a medical procedure (such as dialysis, surgery, catheters) are known as CA-MRSA infections. Staph or MRSA infections in the community are usually manifested as skin infections, such as pimples and boils, and occur in otherwise healthy people. (see Community-associated MRSA. )
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa.html
Did this meat, by any chance, come from China?
As usual, no one is protecting the people. Of course, that would actually mean doing your job and not taking from the Yum Yum Graft Tree.
One (more) reason to become vegetarian, or eat only meat from sources you can trust. Cooking can’t kill everything, especially as these things mutate. I’ve yet to hear of a superbug in rice and beans.
I think of it as taking control.
Too bad about all the human feces infected spinach, grapes, strawberries and such last year
ping
Thorough cooking will kill all bacteria and viruses.
You may be thinking of prions from Mad Cow Disease which cooking will not kill.
To be more specific, enough heat, along with sealing containers, will kill botulinum spores. But they can get on the outside of containers, utensils, and the like. They can also be inhaled and get into the bloodstream through respiratory mucus membranes.
They’ve found this primarily in pork products in Holland, eh? Gee, who doesn’t eat pork?
Genome and virulence determinants of high virulence community-acquired MRSA
The second link has a very interesting glossary section. I keep forgetting panton-valentine leukocidin. I found the first link using PVL as a key word that I made when I posted it.
OBTW:
FDA Urgently Warns Consumers about Health Risks of Potentially Contaminated Olives
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting consumers to possible serious health risks from eating olives that may be contaminated with a deadly bacterium, Clostridium botulinum. C. botulinum can cause botulism, a potentially fatal illness. The olives are made by Charlie Brown di Rutigliano & Figli S.r.l, of Bari, Italy and are being recalled by the manufacturer. No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this recall.
The olives should not be eaten alone or in other foods, even if they do not appear to be spoiled. Consumers should discard these products or return them to the point of purchase. If in doubt, consumers should contact the retailer and inquire whether its olives are part of the recall.
Last I knew.. Olives ain't MEAT.
90% of the baby back ribs sold in restaurants in the US come from Denmark. I know Denmark isn’t mentioned, but it’s in the same neck of the woods. Certainly food for thought (pun intended).
Human? The spinach was infected by pigs.
Let me correct myself. I was relying on memory (not a smart move, I guess), so I researched. In 2001 50% of the BB ribs sold in the US came from Denmark. This info from an article at the time there was a temporary ban on meat products from Europe in early 2001 due to foot-and-mouth disease in other parts of the EU.
We’re all gonna dieeee!
Geez, if it ain’t one thing it’s another with the vegan anti-meat nazis.
Rotting meat also becomes infected with botulinum (as do many other foods)—even rotting people.
ping
Say no to Union/China food and say yes to home delivery..
shameless plug for my employer, and if you live in Hodgenville, Greensburg or Brownsville KY, i run that area...
Last I checked, the high-tech technique called “COOKING” kills MSRA, and any other kind of bacteria.
Oh noes! The flesh eating bacteria commonly found in human sinuses can also be found in uncooked meat!
I guess you shouldn’t stick raw meat up your nose.
(BTW, some hospitals are now giving anti-MRSA sinus spray to people who are soon to undergo surgery.
Just asking.
You beat me to it. We are idiots for not using that tool.
I noticed the other day, that some dog treats I have, had been radiation sterilized, and it really ticked me off that they can be protected with this method, and we can’t, due to non-scientific idiocy. I think it was a bag of pigs ears, but it might have been some leather chew “bones”.
I seem to recall spinach and lettuce being quite a problem recently.
I guess you shouldn’t stick raw meat up your nose.
Gee thanks. NOW you tell me!
From the “For What It’s Worth” department...
In 2002 I had to have an emergency spinal fusion surgery due to an accident.
In 2005 I was in great pain, went to the Doc and had an x-ray of my back which showed a blown disc above the fusion.
The Doc opened me up to take care of the disc and discovered a massive staph infection. It was not, thankfully, MRSA.
They removed the disc, closed me up and then three days later re-opened the area and removed the fusion device and cleaned up the infection.
I had to have a pic line run from my right arm into my heart. The pic line was attached to a pump that injected very heavy duty antibiotics into my heart 24/7 for thirteen weeks.
Following that, I was on oral antibiotics for a year and a half. And this was for non-MRSA infection.
One way of testing for infection is having bloodwork done and checking the SED rate. A normal SED rate is between 1 and 10. When they checked mine upon admittance to the hospital it was 220.
I would not have known of the infection except for the pain from the blown disc. The Doc told me that had I waited another 2 weeks that the infection would have killed me.
They surmise that I got the infection from the original emergency surgery.
If you are the least bit concerned you should have your SED rate checked.
I would not wish what I went through on my worst enemy.
I guess you missed that whole spinach thing last year.
I have never heard of a person contacting MRSA by eating something. I would think that proper cooking and the low Ph of the stomach would seriously affect its virulence. Usually it enters through open wounds or cut. The MRSA strain is around us all the time. We are constantly exposed without knowing it. For the immune compromised this is deadly, but for those with a normal immune system it is all in a days work. This sounds like alarmist crap to me.
My guess is that the meat that was tested came from kitchens that were also preparing seafood.
Does is flavor everything with garlic?
Thanks to irrational hysteria during the '60s and '70s, most Americans now have a strong phobia of all things radioactive.
Irradiated food is EEEEEEeeeeeeeevvvviiiiiillllllllll!
Ah, I see that it’s a capsule that you take like a food supplement. Where’s it made? A friend of mine’s brother took something that was made in India and it almost killed him.
The problem is all of those antibiotics and hormones enter your system when you eat them , I believe leading to earlier puberty for girls and bugs that are resistant to the antibiotics.
The FDA has done little to protect us here in this country from this, preferring to look the other way.
Tyson has announced they are going to offer an antibiotic free line of chicken because people seem to want it.
But most Americans are too dumb to realize the risk of having chicken nuggets or that roast Sunday chicken so they will probably stick with the regular chicken raised on the crap.
The only way you can know what you are getting is to buy certified organic beef and chicken at the higher price.
However that does not totally protect your family because the way bugs become immune to the antibiotics is frequent exposure to it but not enough to kill them off. Those that remain are immune to the drugs.
That is where the strain of TB came from that that lawyer had. Someone did not finish their round of treatment and then shared air space with other people.
This is not a China problem, but it is my guess they do it too and are less cautious than our farmers
bump
Ever heard of aflatoxin?
It was an awful way to die.
sw
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