Supergerms in meat
Meat often contains “supergerms” that are resistant to antibiotics because of the widespread practice of feeding antibiotics to farm animals. A 1995 report by the Consumer’s Association of Penang (CAP) produced some shocking results, with some meat samples containing exceptionally high levels of supergerms.
This article was originally published in The Good Life issue #2, 1995. The entire issue looked at infectious diseases like Aids and drug resistant tuberculoisis,and how dietary and lifestyle factors can weaken our immune system, making us more prone to these diseases.
Buying meat? You might not want to eat it if you know what it contains and what it can do to your health. CAP’s latest test show that many types of meat (chicken, beef, mutton and pork) contain “supergerms” that are resistant to antibiotics.
This is a serious threat to health because resistance to antibiotics can be transmitted from animals to humans. When you eat such meat, some of the bacteria can enter your body and make you sick. When doctors prescribe the same antibiotics for your sickness, they will not be able to cure you.
Below is an edited experpt of CAP's report:
Our tests show that at least two types of antibiotics which are commonly used to treat a wide range of diseases in humans are useless against many diseases causing bacteria present in meat.
We bought 12 samples of fresh and frozen meat from supermarket and wet markets in Penang. They consisted of two samples of pork, four of beef, two of mutton and four samples of chicken.
We tested the meat for bacteria contamination, and then isolated three different bacteria from each sample for an antibiotics sensitivity test, to gauge how effective antibiotics are for killing bacteria.
We tested a total of 36 bacteria samples. For the test, we choose two broad spectrum antibiotics which are commonly used for a wide range of diseases in humans:
- Amoxycillin trihydrate, used for treating bone and joint infections, bronchitis, gastro enteritis (inflammation of the stomach and intestines), gonorrhea, pneumonia, spleen disorders, mouth infections, typhoid, and urinary tract infections.
- Ampicillin trihydtrate, used for biliary tact infections, bronchitis, gastro enteritis (including E coli enteritis, Salmonella enteritis and Shigellosis), gonorrhea, listeriosis, meningitis, pneumonia, septicaemia (blood poisoning), etc.
These two antibiotics are widely prescribed in private clinics. And now, the shocking results…
- A whoping 86 percent of the bacteria samples were resistant to Ampicillin while 58 percent were resistant to Amoxycillin. In other words, Ampicillin was effective against a mere 14 percent of the bacteria samples, while Amoxycillin was effective against only 42% of the bacteria samples.
- Resistance is most serious for Ampicillin – 86 percent of the samples was at least partially resistant, and 28 percent was completely resistant. The worst samples came from mutton, where 100 percent of the bacteria samples were at least partially resistant to Ampicillin. As for complete resistance, the chicken samples were the worst 42 percent were completely resistant.
- For Amoxycillin, 2.8 percent of the bacteria samples were completely resistant. Again, these came from the chicken samples. And again, the mutton samples had the overall highest rate of some resistance, at 83%.
This was not the first time that CAP has found meat with supergerms that are resistant to antibiotics. In 1988, similar tests showed that various kinds of bacteria in chicken, mutton and pork were completely resistant to penicillin. Several strains of bacteria were also partially resistant to neomycin and chloramphenicol.
Click here to read Part II of this article, which explains how these supergerms developed.
