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Remember methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus (MRSA) – a bacterial infection that causes more deaths in the U.S. than HIV/AIDS?
While MRSA has typically invaded people in hospitals – patients undergoing medical procedures with weakened immune systems, for example – it's proving to be much more pervasive than originally thought. People who are otherwise healthy, including those who haven't been hospitalized and haven't been taking antibiotics, are contracting MRSA bacteria.
Now, food products are a culprit, as discovered in pork sold in retail stores across Canada.
Researchers have found MRSA in 9 percent of pork products tested for the deadly bacteria, the first confirmed report of MRSA in retail meat in North America (and one of the first in the world). Similar studies are reportedly underway in the U.S.
There isn't a huge food poisoning concern, as the bacteria is destroyed when the meat is cooked properly. Still, researchers wonder if people who handle meat with MRSA would end up carrying the bacteria on their skin, leading to a full-on infection. (The lead researcher's recommendation to just be sure and wash our hands doesn't make me feel better.)
It was only a matter of time until this bacteria showed up in meat products, I guess, given the conditions of some livestock operations where antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been found. Envirovore told you about a study where 100 – 1,000 times more resistance genes in soil bacteria were found around conventional hog farms than soil around organic farms, giving kudos once again to small livestock operations that don't administer antibiotics.
Source: The Toronto Star
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