Dive Summary:
- A new study published by Consumer Reports shows that ground turkey from birds raised without antibiotics has a lower likelihood of being contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
- 257 samples of raw ground turkey meat and patties purchased from major retailers nationwide were tested for Enterococcus, E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, and Campylobacter, all of which were then tested to see what portion were antibiotic-resistant.
- Overall, 90% of the turkey samples tested positive for one of the five bacteria, and more than 50% were resistant three or more classes of antibiotics, but bacteria found in samples labeled “no antibiotics,” “organic” or “raised without antibiotics” were resistant to fewer antibiotics.
From the article:
... The American Meat Institute, on the other hand, said the magazine article about the study wrongly focuses on non-pathogenic bacteria and that actually the results point to “remarkably low levels” of pathogenic bacteria that threaten public health, like Salmonella and Campylobacter. AMI pointed out that the level of Salmonella positives the group found (5 percent) is one tenth the regulatory limit (49 percent) that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service allows in ground turkey products. Consumer Reports also reported that they found zero samples positive for Campylobacter.
“These findings are extremely encouraging,” said AMI Foundation chief scientist Betsy Booren. “When food safety issues have been linked to ground turkey, they have typically been caused by either Campylobacter or Salmonella. Consumer Reports test results show that the food safety systems used by turkey processors are working to destroy these bacteria.” ...
