Dive Brief:
- A common salmonella strain can resist many drugs, according to a new federal government report.
- The report puts multidrug resistance above 40%, a statistic that more than doubled between 2011 and 2014.
- This resistant salmonella was linked to "animal exposure and eating pork or beef, including meat purchased from live animal markets," Food Safety News reported.
Dive Insight:
This report was the first time the NARMS (National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System for Enteric Bacteria) used whole genome sequencing data of bacteria from people with antibiotic-resistant salmonella infections for its annual surveillance report.
Manufacturers and regulators are continuing to find more adverse conditions in food. The food supply isn't necessarily any less safe today, but current testing is more exact and finds more pathogens. These kinds of reports are likely to continue as more companies implement final changes to comply with FSMA. The deadline for compliance is just a few weeks away for large manufacturers.
The report also compared how prevalent antibiotic resistance was in 2014 with that from 2004 to 2008 and from 2009 to 2013. The findings ranged from "encouraging" to "concerning," according to NARMS. The "concerning" findings ran the gamut and pose challenges for manufacturers. Researchers identified an extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) gene in six of the 51 ceftriaxone-resistant salmonella in 2014. ESBLs are usually rarer for salmonella in the U.S. and generally stem from international travel.