 Almost half of the meat and poultry sold at U.S. supermarkets and grocery stores contains a type of bacteria that is potentially harmful to humans, a new study estimates. Researchers tested 136 packages of chicken, turkey, pork, and ground beef purchased at 26 grocery stores in five cities around the country, and found that 47 percent contained Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), a common cause of infection in people. Get the rest of the story at CNN Health and read more about tainted food and recalled products |
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No wonder it's antibiotic-resistant... they regularly pump the cows full of antibiotics.
I would suggest an immediate staph meeting with possible strep searches if needed.
Should people become vegetarian?
Check out the new website from ProCon.org with over 40 pro and con arguments about whether or not people should adopt a vegetarian diet.
http://vegetarian.procon.org
It can be helpful but I think to get cure from staph infection it is not compulsory to eat Chicken. There are lots of other ways to get cure.
Where is the FDA? Are they sleeping along with the airport traffic controllers too? I thought polcing this industry to prevent such problems is what they were originally created for! Someone needs to answer to this lax culture in these government agencies.
Thirty percent of PEOPLE are carriers of Staphylococcus aureus. It's all around us. If you have ever had an infection with pus in it (like a pimple!) that was most likely Staph aureus. You can't escape this bug by avoiding meat.
Wake up people. Don't you remember your lessons? We really believe when they slaughtered 200 million cattle in Europe to protect us from Protein disease that was the end of it? You are naive. Read about Secret Presidential Chemtrail Budget Uncovered, Congress Exceeds Billions To Spray Populous Like Roaches -LOL Just who OK'd spraying for bugs with these kinds of Manganese levels? Sorry folks we've been had once again...Stealth pathogens are loaded with Manganese which in this document is shown to be at over 500 part above toxic levels....The Manganese is what gives the stealth pathogen Borrelia its virulence factor...Manganese replaces copper in the cells to enable prions to become virulent. Yes people in the NE if your cattle die and your buffalo die are all the patients with "Syndromes" of unknown origin next? Isn't it time for the truth?
I have cut back in the past over concerns, but after reading this story I think I will cut it to almost none if not none. Guess I will become an accidental Vegan one day, I am allergic to dairy so with no meat that only leaves eggs. At that point maybe I won't bother.
I worked on those cow lots that spread across the west, we would put so many cattle in a lot that the cows couldn't even move, would have to feed them from over head.....when cows can't move they won't eat, the antibiotics that is pumped in their food makes them hungry and they eat and yall can have yer big mac with a heart attack later on....
hogs are raised in tower pens inside on concrete flows, they never see the sun....just one pen after another stacked on top of each other, all they do or can do is lay there...so more antibiotics to make them eat..
Oh yeah..this organic crap is just that...they still pump them full antibiotics at last 6 weeks to make them eat more, while telling people it's for the cows own good,lol..and people buy this organic sh!t up like crazy while the sellers are laughing their a$$ off to the bank.....
Increasingly there have been concerns raised by researchers as well as legislators about the routine use of non-therapeutic levels of antibiotics by agriculture to foster growth of livestock. As a result, there has been growing interest in organic agriculture, which does not allow this practice.
Choosing foods bearing the organic label is the only way consumers can be sure meats and dairy products they buy have been produced without the use of antibiotics.
Organic practices recognize and respect the powerful nature of antibiotics. As a result, organic practices prohibit the use of antibiotics, synthetic hormones or other animal drugs in animal feed for the purpose of stimulating the growth or production of livestock.
Respected organizations such as the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization have recommended against the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in agriculture in order to protect public health. Those organizations point out that such uses of antibiotics in agriculture contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.
Most recently, the June 2009 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives included a focus article entitled “The Landscape of Antibiotic Resistance,” which referenced research showing that the practice of using antibiotics at sub-therapeutic levels in livestock feed and water has led to the persistence of these antibiotics in the environment and the possibility of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Up to 70 percent of all antibiotics produced in the United States are used for ‘non-therapeutic” purposes in industrial food animal production, according to The Union of Concerned Scientists, which defines ‘non-therapeutic’ as the use of antibiotics in the absence of diagnosed disease.
Food animals on industrial farms often are routinely fed antibiotics in food and water to promote weight gain and feed efficiency, and to compensate for overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. This is not allowed in organic agriculture.
Organic producers are required by the organic standards to provide living conditions and health care practices that help prevent illness and to promote health of the animals.
In addition to prohibiting the use of antibiotics and synthetic growth hormones in organic livestock production, U.S. national organic standards require organic livestock to be fed 100 percent organic feed and given access to pasture and the outdoors. The standards prohibit the use of genetic engineering, toxic and persistent pesticides, and sewage sludge on fields. Organic operations are federally regulated, with third-party certification by a U.S. Department of Agriculture-accredited certifier.
Bacteria and meat are not necessarily a problem in and of themselves, but U.S. CAFO meat is the worse toxic crap a meat lover could EVER put in his body. Outside the U.S. I always ate range-fed beef, chicken or pork from Argentina, Costa Rica or Brazil that was finished on sugarcane harvest by-products and slaughtered in grass-roots houses, the stuff was awesome and inexpensive, really lean yet tender when properly cooked and you could really feel it crank you up when you exercised, ever since coming back to the states all the greasy, marbled meat that I eat sits like a rock in my gut and gives me heartburn, it also builds up in my joints and makes them hurt, especially in cold weather; when I go veggie and fish, it stops.
Yes, bacteria is everywhere. BUT we should not be seeing this type of bacteria in our food. The worst part about this is that it is resistent to certain antibiotics. As a registered nurse I understand the importance of being able to utilize all of the antibiotic choices on hand. The fact that these meat industries are creating, "superbugs," is scary. People have and will be infected with these types of bacterias and doctors will have a difficult time trying to treat them. Eating meat is not worth thousands being killed each year over food poisoning. Before any of you say that this is not a big deal, do some research. Being vegan is the best thing I could do for myself and for the world I live in.
You – and several others posting here – seem to be pushing the belief that every single one of these bacteria is drug resistant. That is not the case. "Some" of the strains that were found were drug resistant, but the majority were not. You make it sound every single Staph aureus is a drug-resistant killer guaranteeding a hospital visit/stay if one encounters it, and that is simply not true. As an RN you should know that Staph is not part of normal gut microflora nor does it colonize normal, healthy muscle tissue. That means the Staph isn't getting on the meat due to contact of the carcass with the viscera. The contamination has to come from contact with an externally contaminated surface – whether that's the animal's hide or from someone/something in the slaughter/processing operation – right up to and including the local retail establishment.
It looks like you may need to go back and 'refresh' your informaiton on food poisoning, because 1) the bacteria is not the direct cause of food poisoning – the enterotoxin is (it's a "food intoxication"), 2) the toxin isn't produced at temperatures below about 50F, and 3) you don't run into "drug resistant" Staph aureus food poisoning – for reasons already listed.
The ignorance here is amazing. Staph is no joke, while It can die under temperatures of 108 degrees F +, it is not a general bacteria that normally lives on anything. It is an infectious bacteria which has become highly resistant to antibiotics. If you contract staph especially within your organs or blood you may live after some massive antibiotic doses but staph has a habit of coming back. SO be prepared to become familiar with your local hospital.
Nice brainwashing technique....putting a picture of an Organic piece of meat on the cover of the story, to make people think that there is "no safe meat". Organic meat was not affected my this staph strain....why? Because Organic meat isn't processed in those nasty, dirty, factory type, huge meat processing plants. Those places process the majority of the meat in the US...and it's super easy to contaminate the entire factory! Why do you think there are mass recalls for meat all the time? Organic, grass fed cows don't have these problems...cause organic meaat can't be processed at these plants. Go organic and eat some steak!lol
Staph is contagious through contact, so it's more than likely contaminated meat became so by those who handle the meat, it has nothing to do with the bacteria cows get from eating corn. That is another type of bacteria.
The problem with Staphylococcus aureus contamination is that it produces a toxin that can lead to severe food poisoning symptoms. You can destroy the bacteria by cooking, but the toxin remains. Even E. coli 0157:H7 and Salmonella aren't a problem if the meat is cooked thoroughly. Not so with Staph.
DON'T EAT MEAT!!! Then the price will go down and I can buy some good steaks!
Son of a bitch! I find this out AFTER I fixed meatloaf for dinner tonight!
What a crock!! all meat, fish, poultry is contaminated when its raw !!! just cook it and the bacteria is killed !!! the liberal freaks of nature will have a field day with this crap !!! BRING ON THE STEAKS !!!
As many others have pointed out, the study is flawed and leans towards the senational. I am sure, regrettably, that there is plenty of bacterial presence in our food system. Nothing is perfect. But, remember that S.aureus is everywhere, as others have mentioned. (Heck, in my undergraduate microbio class, we swabbed our faces and most of us grew Staph aureus – including one girl whose facial Staph didn't die after we treated it with multiple antibiotics). Don't throw all the blame on the farmers or the meat packers, and don't make this the "last straw" that switches you to buying organic. THERE ARE REGULATIONS IN THE MEAT INDUSTRY, AND THIS IS WHY. How much worse would this situation be if we had no protections? I'm all for small-scale, local farming and processing, but there aren't enough USDA inspectors to hit all the smaller plants. Who's to guarantee that all the regulations are being followed there?
Furthermore, consider that this study looked at an EXTREMELY limited number of samples – and extrapolated the data in the worst way possible. Samples from FIVE cities in the US suddenly correlates to "half of the country"?! Give me a break! I'd get marked off if I submitted my stats homework tomorrow with a study designed like that.
Sorry but staph should not be living on your face, while it is true there are many staph carriers who more than likely carry it on their nose it is not your average bacteria, in fact the one girl who's staph didn't die after antibiotic treatment more than likely has what's called MRSA and she should be treated before she spreads that to anyone else as it could be fatal to others.
We knew 50 years ago that you have to cook your meat or you might get sick. Why is this news?
What a glorious day to be vegan and have vegan kids!
LOL @ all the conspiracy theorists against CNN! LMAO!
"Biogenetically-tuned" light energy, compounded via corollary sound energies appear to be a potentially-viable, safe solution against the multicillin-resistant staphylococcal aureus (MRSA) virus.
But then...who knows?
Unfortunately, government and corporation alike will no doubt interfere with and stop any potential immediate and effective solution(s). It is all such criminals know!
I am so happy that the Republicans fight safer food regulations. Buy local organic meat. Cows get sick from eating corn, they are pumped full of antibiotics because of the corn diet they are given.
Eat up folks!
CNN's job is propaganda–for the corporations. Check the photo on this story about "Staph seen in nearly half of U.S. meat". The photo shows a hand holding a cut of meat that is labeled "Certified Organic".
Now why would CNN show organic meat, which is too expensive for most consumers to buy. Organic meat in my food COOP comes from small, local producers who certainly would have much higher standards of cleanliness and hygiene than Armour, Perdue, Cargill, etc. because they have more control and being local, would have more concern for their communities and their reputations.
CNN, by using this photo, is complicit in the goal of mass market processors in trying to smear organic and small local producers. CNN is shilling for big corporations, as usual.
I began a vegan diet about a year and a half ago, as fostered by Dr. John McDougall of Santa Rosa, CA. My health – admittedly good to begin with, improved in several ways. I no longer need to take medication for blood pressure, for one. My reasons were the good benefits of the diet, and the overwhelming evidence of pollution in the meat we are offered: too many antibiotics which we assimilate into our system, as well as the infectious material in much meat (witness the many outbreaks of illness caused by contamination); also, the evidence that the excessive protein in the meat (and dairy!) inhibit the body's use of calcium. Interested people should investigate Dr. McDougall's writings as well as the recommendations of other REPUTABLE sources such as the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Sing it! PCRM.org is a fabulous web site! I refer my doctors to that site all the time when they don't understand vegan health and nutrition, and most of them simply do not so I do LOTS of referring!
And there you have the "truth" of the matter regarding PCRM. It is a vegan-promoting organization. "Reputable" scientists . . . maybe, but all of them with an agenda. It's very easy to put 'half-truths' together, and to take scientific findings out of context to prove one's point. "Unbiased" isn't in their vocabulary.
Ground meat is the source of most problems. But if you cook it well done, all the bacteria will be killed. But you have so many chefs and cooking shows telling you that burgers should be cooked medium rare. Bad idea.
Because it doesnt need to be cooked well done. It just needs to be cooked enough that the center gets hot enough to kill germs. Even rare meat can be safe if it is cooked right. This has been known for some time, but I guess society is forgetting what it used to know.
MRSA isn't something anyone wants – made me so sick I spent three months in a hospital but believe me, it wasn't from meat. I am "colonized" but again so are most people and eating meat won't help or hurt that at all.
I think this study is out of context. I think that you should have done comparisons to the history of bacterial content in the past. Given that bacteria are everywhere and we do not raise cattle in a laboratory in sterile conditions, it is not unexpected. Since you generally do not eat meat raw, what is the real risk you are showing? Cleanliness is always a necessary problem in food manufacture, but most of these bacteria are all around our environment. Do you go to work every day? Touch the door knobs, the phone, use the bathroom, shake hands or interact with the environmet without a bunny suit? I expect someone at CNN to be intelligent enough to put things into perspective. I am not going to be a vegan (and fruits and vegetables are not any better anyway)
i still bite the raw heart of a fresh deer kill. i sliceand eat raw product as it turns on the spit, i never cover cuts and work in filth all day, i stepon rusty nails and forget about it. it is the germ freaks that have destroyed themselves. the worst anything does to me is make me poop.
Good luck with the sarcocyctitis and lungworm that you might get from all that uncooked deer heart-biting.
Meat is disgusting – its dead and rotting!! Go Vegan.
Since it's never a good idea to base your notion of facts on reader responses to stories, I encourage you all to do your own research and actually read the study this article was based on. For one thing, the article does not mention that the study found this type of staph is specific to animals and therefore not a result of human contamination (as some responders have indicated). Second, humans and animals have become more susceptible to these forms of staph as a result of the increased use of antibiotics in the animals slaughtered for meat. The antibiotics are used to treat the perpetual infections and sicknesses of animals raised on factory farms. Though many of the responders have mentioned the prevalence of staph on the mucous membranes of our own bodies, I think the aspect that is being overlooked is the existence of this new super-bug that developed as a result of the inhumane living conditions of the animals. Furthermore, staph is probably the least of the public's problems. Regardless of whether this article is meant as a "scare tactic" or not, one need only do a quick Google search to find that E. Coli, salmonella, and other bacterias contaminate the meat you eat – and are often still there after you've cooked it. It should be noted that the existence of E. Coli in your meat is the direct result of FECES being in your meat, an unfortunate aspect of the slaughtering process that few have yet to realize. There is poop in your meat... So, if you're cool with the risk of food poisoning, enjoy eating feces, and think the power of antibiotics to treat your infections and illnesses is overrated anyway, by all means... eat up!
THIS ISN'T NEWS!!! This is Anti-news!
If anything, the headline *SHOULD* read "Modern tech improves sanitation such that only 50% of American meat remains contaminated!!!"
Staph, strep, botulism, listeria, trichinosis, salmonella, etc....yes? so? and?!?
Back before humans were dumbed down to the vapid bovine panicky animals they are today, everyone KNEW that one must fully cook, wash, or otherwise decontaminate food (especially meat products) before eating it.
Not even worried about it. the amount contained in the meat is almost no threat. It wouldve been recalled if there were any concern.
My husband is a Meat Cutter and the main thing about meat is make SURE IT IS COOKED PROPERLY !!!
What a bunch of irresponsible alarmism.
I'm not advising anyone to cut bread on the cutting board that they just used for raw chicken, but I think some of the excessive precautions that some people insist on are somewhat self defeating. I eat my meat medium rare and my eggs with runny yolks, and I never get sick. Why is it that Mexicans don't get sick from the e coli in their water that gives Americans traveller's diarhea? Because they have built up natural resistance. Our bodies are pretty amazing that way. I think most people will get the opposite message from the article than what they should. We need to get over our germ phobia, STOP the widespread overuse of antibiotics, and save the antibiotics that work for when we really need them. What might just kill your grandmother who's getting chemotherapy is that an antibiotic that would have worked 20 years ago to kill the infection won't work anymore because so many idiots insisted on taking antiobiotics every time they got the sniffles.
US Grade A – LOL!
What other food source allows you to play Russian roulette with MRSA and BSE? Its a riot, especially with a couple bottles of wine.
And milk! Don't forget the milk! LMAO
I've been eating meat (red and chicken) for years and I rarely ever get sick, so I must be immune to whatever is on it.
Good thing all that regulation ensures a safe environment for processing food, huh?
Q: What do you do with a piece of raw meat?
A: Cook it all the way through and eat it before it gets cold.
....duh!
This article gives me pause, but I probably will not avoid red meat totally. All food has the chance of something on or in it that isn't good and my body has always managed to handle it. I'll probably survive it. Or not.
Terrorism-by-media has gotten out-of-hand. I always question the media's goal in whatever it says because the media is more focused on ratings and drama than responsible reporting.
Other: I was obsessive-compulsive about proper handling & cooking of meat before now ... and will remain so. Personally, I'd rather not have meat from animals fed antibiotics – we don't need any more resistance than what we naturally get!
First of all yall need to stop blaming CNN for reporting this. They are not the only news source reporting this. New York Times and LA is reporting it as well. CNN is the only one who has the balls to stand behind what they report and if any of u bothered to watch the video that they posted you will see that they tell you how to take preventive measures so that you and everyone else is less at risk to get the staph infection(or disease if u want to be particular). Second of all, look at urselves, you are degrading eachother for opinions. For thats what all of these posts are. Everyone is allowed to say what they believe and it is the indivduals responsibilty to look into the facts of what is written and said by anyone, including the media. To be getting upset, and calling people names because they used grammar errors is pathetic. Here's something ya'll need to consider. Children of different ages can get on here and read what ya'll have said and they see that ya'll can not have an adult conversation without putting eachother down, than you are only encouraging them to fight amongst eachother. I know that, that is not exactly the purpose of these posts, but everyone needs to use common sense. And if any of you have taken any biology classes in school, or even listened when your mom, grandma or whoever told you that if you don't wash your hands after going to the bathroom, or after coming in contact with raw meats than you would know that you can get sick. Yes bacteria resistant meats sounds scary, but the news is reporting to inform us. I know that not all things that are reported are for our good, some of it is unneccesary, but that life. Please just follow proper heating temperatures when cooking foods, and make sure you wash your hands...then clean your counters. I use clorox wipes on my counters even though my meats are handled from a plate to the pan. BUT STOP BELITTLING EACHOTHER AND THE MEDIA.
I just ate fajita beef nachos from pappasitos. With a gold platinum margarita. I am still alive. And I smoked a joint.
It's a bit misleading to have a photo of organic meat under a heading about staph being found in meat. It makes it look like organic meat is a large part of the problem which is usually not the case.
I wish people would do the research before making comments about issues they know little about. The bacteria in meat products is becoming an issue not just because the bacteria is there. The World Health Organization and the Center of Concerned Scientist have been studying this rapidly increasing problem for years. The bacteria found in meat is becoming antibiotic resistant due to the over use of antibiotics in live stock. There are some extremely informative websites covering this topic.
I don't have many options for meat in my area that would allow me to avoid the possibly contaminated meat. I also don't want to quit meat all together.
I love how sampling 137 packages of meat is good enough to evaluate "all the meat in America." Following this formula, you could also say that "75 Percent of All Men Have Committed Murder", "80 Percent of All U.S. Presidents Were Assassinated", or "Nick Cage Stars in 90 Percent of All Movies". Ok, that last one might be true. But the phrasing of this story, let alone the title, is irresponsible on a level I never thought I'd see from a mainstream news source. It's overtly misleading and almost childish in its naievity.
American journalists are getting lazier and more malevolent by the day. By 2020 every news story published in this country is just going to be titled "You're Going to Die!!!!!" The lead will be: "A random, unnamed source has informed this reporter that all spoons in the United States contain radioactive asbestos and are forged in rickety Columbian sweatshops by kidnapped American tourists". The rest of the story will read: "blah blah new government regulations blah blah stock prices plummet blah blah follow us on Twitter".
I hope for my children's sake they are too dumb to read.
Did you flunk basic math? The 137 packages of meat used in the experiment were supposed to show an AVERAGE percentage. You hope for your kids' sakes they can't read, but can you?
Well, I do not know if we should worry but; in Europe if a farmer sells a 100 pigs, every pig's meat is tested. On the other hand, in the US, only ONE out of all of the pigs sold by one farmer at the same time has to tested... They also have strict ruls about anybody that works with food; everybody has to be tested for all kinds of transferrable diseases... On the other hand, if I, for example go to the restaurant here, I do not know if the food that I'm eating was not prepared by somebody with hepatitis B, and served to me by somebody wih aids.... And we like the lack of regulation in this respect, because it is cheaper.... Europeans do not care, they rather be safe than sorry....
I wonder how much bacteria I get. I work in a sawmill, live near a river, have dogs, eat wild game and fish, and only wipe out my cast iron skillet with a dry cloth. We worry to much and sterilize things around us way to much. It is no wonder no one builds up an immunity to things
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Make no mistake. The well-being of every living thing on Earth is constantly being weighed against the profits of our corporate overlords.
Until people are falling over dead in the streets prematurely, a little disease and cancer here and there will be allowed.
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Meat and poultry are cooked completly (well done), so the bacteria are killed and it is not a problem for us.
Just because the corpse has been cooked properly doesn't exuse the fact that you are supporting murder.
It's far more likely that the iron in the beef will kill you (See Fenton Reaction) before the staph or MRSA from the dead cow or the butcher's grubby hands. see mitochodrial superoxide dismutase induction. See also Sirtuins and the FOXO gene. Some are born with a G-G FOXO gene donated one each by their parents. Like lotto winners, they don't have to watch their diet much, and they're going to live to over 108 (unless a bus hits them.) Most of us have C-C or C-G or G-C. Bummer, huh. Fortunately, it's not entirely outside of our own control really. Just eat 70% of the calories as the aforementioned lucky few, or better yet, eat a diet rich in Sirtuin activating calorie restriction mimetics including red wine, blueberries, peanuts, (resveratrol, pterostilbenes) and the all important soybean sprout (phytoestrogens, lunasin and iron chelating phytic acid.) Thanks CNN (Certainly Not News.)
This is the first I heard of this string of outbreaks.. Why can't standards be higher at butcher shops or warehouses?? Fire the FDA secretary please!! They aren't doing their job.. Too many recalls..
Yeah? You try surviving one of their inspections then. Anyway, the USDA is in charge of inspecting meat packaging and processing plants genius. If anything, FDA is way too reactionary. Instead of trying to obtain a zero defect status quo, they should design their processes to build and foster voluntary quality assurance standards from those they are charged with inspecting. Only managers from the regulated industries can oversee and improve the well designed processes which will minimize the risk to the public. (See W. Edward Deming.)
Is this including organic meats? I notice that's an organic meat package.... Yes it bothers me, what are we going to do? Our food is contaminated with radiation as well.
It looks like there's really nothing we can do.
It bothers me to think you really believe that there is nothing we can do...you could not support the meat industry. You could go vegan. Its empowering and not as constricting as people think. People are just afraid of change.
100% of all groceries sold in the U.S. are tainted with greed.
what a ridiculous article, what's the point of it? what exactly does this suggest? no options, just that they found bacteria?
a good article will talk about what has been found, what can be done about it, and what has been done about it, and how many people have died about it, and this article just points out something that leaves everyone without the means to investigate to just ban meat's? is that what they want?
nowhere does it say that this type of bacteria doesnt die when cooked. so why make an article that gives people dead ends, thats what i hate, when people put dead ends when they shouldnt, its ridiculous.
i'll just not say anything anymore, someone needs to do thier job right to get info out to the people who want it, if they're too lazy to do it then they should quit their job and make a site that is just going to scare people while they laugh at it, then ask them what they're gonna do about it and have that multiple choice like this article does right below it, how insulting
We eat much less meat than we ever did, and what we eat is now 100% grass fed from birth to slaughter. Both beef and bison are available in a few stores and online. Cows are injected with growth hormones and about 8 lbs of antibiotics while finishing their growth in feedlots. Grass fed meat has a much higher ration of good fats to bad than corn fed. The reason they use antibiotics is because ruminants such as cows get sick when eating large amounts of grain. Not a guarantee but gives us a fighting chance and is a lot healthier overall. Downside is grass fed takes longer to raise to market weight and is double the price aprox.
Instead of growing healthy beef, the U.S. farming industry is growing and breeding lethal bacteria. Just because they want to make some more profit...
Buy organic beef, it is much healthier and tastes much better.
And this would be why we buy meat from local farms with grass-fed animals.
136 samples does not a nationwide survey make!
Irresponsible journalism. Is anyone really this stupid?
OH GIVE ME A BREAK!.... I'll have to stop eating EVERYTHING, give up BREATHING, hide in the DARK, keep my distance from every living thing (or I might get a cold), what I eat, drink, where I live, who I live with, which doctor I see. I'm doomed.
Enough is enough. COOK THE DAMN MEAT and don't wash your hands in it.
News is so sensationalist in this country. They make up your mind on everything even how you wipe your butt. No one thinks for themselves anymore and two political parties don't make a true democracy.
Gross!
This is irresponsible journalism; the like of which we haven't seen since I was on television.
As others have mentioned, it's strange that they chose to use a photo of organic meat for this story. I see nothing in the story that mentions anything about organic meat. Yet the first thing you see is a photo of it when you click onto this page, which alarmed me at first, as I enjoy eating organic meat.
This is just another reason why you shouldn't eat meat. I am a strict vegetarian because I think I should put respect for all life before my taste buds. I don't think anyone should make a living off of killing. Saying that going vegetarian is hurting slaughterhouse workers is like putting Jews in a gas chamber and saying that if we didn't, the people making the cyanide would be financially hurting. My reward for not eating a corpse that has been barbarically murdered in cold blood is having my food Staph-free and no cancer in my colon.
My slogan is "kill a cow, go to hell," because if anyone thinks animals are of lesser importance, they deserve to get the disgusting diseases in meat.
Cook ur meat appropriately and freeze it to decrease parasite counts.
Cooking temp/time/bacterial death
°F °C Minimum Time
120 49 21 hours
122 50.0 9.5 hours
124 51.1 4.5hours
126 52.2 2 hours
128 53.4 1 hours
130 54.5 30 minutes
132 55.6 15 minutes
134 56.7 6 minutes
136 57.8 3 minutes
138 58.9 2 minutes
140 60.0 1 minute
142 61.1 1 minute
144 62.2 Instant
Parasite inactivation:
Freezing pork less than 6 inches thick for 20 days at 5 °F (−15 °C) or three days at −4 °F (−20 °C) kills larval worms.
USE SOME COMMON SENSE HERE PEOPLE!! TEST UR IMMUNE SYSTEM ONCE IN A WHILE AND QUIT BEING SO FRAGILE!!Eat meat and use common safety practices. Would you consume asparagus without rinsing first with water?? There is probably a lot of bacteria on our veggies as well.
have you been living under a rock?! THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS CLEAN MEAT!!! unless you consider a corpse with 1,000 parasite larva per square inch clean...
Pete, you're a little 'off' here. You're quoting info for deactivating trichina, the parasitic worm that causes trichinosis, a totally different ballgame from bacteria. Time/temperature kill relationships differ for most of the 'bugs', and what works for one won't work for another.
Notice how they chose a picture of 'organic beef'. I think "they" (big corporations) are going to go after the organic food market. We are taking too much control back from corporations in all manner of our lives with organic and local food choices, hybrid vehicles and a growing market base interested in green choices, that can't make 'them' happy. I think 'they' will try to discredit the organic food market in order to gain more control and then try to regulate it out of existence. Just my opinion. I've been eating organic meats and veggies for years (we raised cows in my youth and even butchered myself) and never once gotten ill from any item no matter what farm. The only time I've gotten ill is from USDA 'approved' meats/eggs most likely stored at insufficient temperatures.
Peace out!
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Make no mistake. The well-being of every living thing on Earth is constantly being weighed against the profits of our corporate overlords.
Until people are falling over dead in the streets prematurely, a little disease and cancer here and there will be allowed.
.
PETA=People Eating Tasty Animals
I would hope all meat eaters would d ie http://www.tryveg.com
The animals are tortured their entire lives so you can have a big mac
Wow Jim that's a little extreme don't you think???
No...extreme is how animals are treated for food, medicine and cosmetics.
you rock! I'm with you all the way! Meat is murder...no matter how you slice it
I would hope all meateaters would d ie http://www.tryveg.com
The animals are tortured their entire lives so you can have a big mac
you rock! I am totally with you. People who eat meat deserve to be treated like the animals in factory farms.
same reaction as* me, woops drinking wine and typing doesn't mix.
Half the meat in the country consists of thousands of tons. We should be seeing a massive outbreak of steph infections, yet this is not happening. Why? The reason is most meat is cooked and the bacteria is killed and we have anti-bodies that prevent us from getting sick.
This is just journalism at its worst, a CNN writer crying wolf where the goal is to create reader hysteria.
Whew, so glad it seems most people had the same reaction to me. I'm so sick of alarmist type articles like this. Having developed a MRSA infection which is Methicillin-resistant (and penicillin resistant)Staphylococcus aureus, last year, I learned a lot about staph infections. I learned we carry staph bacteria in our nose but it can result in infection if skin is broken and the bacteria gets inside and doesn't heal properly, but is usually contracted from touching something an infected person has touched, and the prime environment to catch MRSA is a hospital. I'm pretty sure I got it from riding a bus to work for a year because there were the dirtiest, sketchiest, most drug-addicted people out there sitting in seats next to me. It was during that year of bus-riding I got two infections. At any rate, all it took was a different antibiotic to heal and I bought some special cleaning solvent and ointment to prevent future outbreaks. Since my infection I have met three other people who have had it as well, one was a mother of a child who said every kid in their neighborhood got an outbreak from jumping on the same trampoline. None of them died by the way. It's easily treatable. The only time it is fatal is if it gets into your bloodstream like during heart surgery. I know someone whose mother died from MRSA in that case. Based on my experience, I'm not that concerned that the simple strain of staph is found in meat. We are also meat and we also carry that bacteria. It is only MRSA that can be fatal and that is only if it is untreated and gets into your bloodstream, usually through surgery.
I stopped buying meat in stores - I go to a local butcher who raises his own cows
And we inject ammonia into our ground beef to prevent E-Coli...let's just have chemists produce food, oh wait we have that already with Monsanto who owns our seeds (corn, etc..)
Seriously, Seriously?! Staphylococcal Food Poisening, aka Staphylococcal Gastroenteritis comes from eating, wait for it Mister Seriously?! FOOD tainted with certain types of Staph. Darn those stomach acids, falling down on the job.
" Symptoms usually begin abruptly with severe nausea and vomiting starting about 2 to 8 hours after the contaminated food is eaten. Other symptoms may include abdominal cramping, diarrhea, and sometimes headache and fever. Severe fluid and electrolyte loss may cause weakness and very low blood pressure (shock). Symptoms usually last less than 12 hours, and recovery is usually complete. Occasionally, staphylococcal food poisoning is fatal, especially in the very young, the very old, and people weakened by long-term illness." – Merck
Stomach acids are just not cutting it. Perhaps the reason you don't hear about a "mass outbreak" is because few people seek medical attention for 12 hours of puking their guts out while sitting on the toilet. That doesn't mean they aren't sick.
How about we stop giving “subtherapeutic” doses of antibiotics to the animals just to cause weight gain. While were at it, we could stop the hormones we pump into the cattle. Maybe we'd have fewer 7 years olds going through puberty. And while were at it – COWS ARE NOT INTENDED TO EAT CORN, but if you decide to raise grass fed cattle, you have to be careful. The corn industry is very powerful and they can effectively put you out of business. By the way – your dogs and cats don't naturally eat corn either, but the CORN KINGS have strong armed the pet food industry, too.
-Former long-time nurse for physician specializing in nutritional medicine.
Your 'name' is appropriate. You do realize that Staphylococcal food poisoning is a food intoxication, and not a food infection, don't you? and that stomach acid will kill the bacteria but not deactivate the enterotoxin?
Oh, yeah, about that COWS ARE NOT INTENDED TO EAT CORN thing – have you bothered to tell the cows that? because I'm pretty sure that they have to be educated to that fact, at least by the way they act any time they get around corn. You really should stick to your 'human medicine' and leave the animal science stuff to others who know a little more about it than you do.
Yes, I did know that it is the toxins, not the staph itself that is the culpret in the GI tract issues. But you don't get the toxins without the staph. While I have a particular dislike of GI problems, I am more concerned about the mommy making meatloaf with her hands. Concered about the little kid eating a burger. Yes, staph is everywhere, all over us and everything around us and I'm old enough to have been around when that was no big deal. If you got a staph infection you took one course of antibiotics, maybe an injection, and you were cured. Now, thanks to resistant strains, it's a different game. Just last year, in my office of 33 people, 3 got staph infections. MRSA. The first guy runs marathons and had to have knee surgery. Two weeks post-op the infection made itself known – surgery to clean out as much infection as possible – ICU for 2 days – 2 more days in Hospital – more weeks at home – Pick Line for months,etc. A year later and he is still having problems. Second guy got it on his face, probably from a shaving nick. Now that was gross. Poor guy used to be kind of cute. The last guy doesn't even know how he got it. He ended up in the hospital and had months of treatment for an staph infection on his forearm without any discernable break in the skin. 40 years ago, it was usually no big deal. Now we feed the staph a steady diet of antibiotics, given to the cows for the side effect of fatter cows and prophylactic protection against mastitis. That would be like taking penicillin every day so as to prevent yourself from getting strep throat in the future. Having been fed the antibiotics for all of these years, the staph, which is normally present on cows, as it is on us, isn't NORMAL at all. It may be normal for it to be there, but there is nothing normal about this staph. This staph is giving those antibiotics the finger and this staph, staph strong enough to survive on and in our "treated" meat is the kind of staph that doesn't give a damn about our antibiotics, anymore. Couple that with years of people using antibiotics like they were aspirin, and we have created "Super Bugs." This is where we're at. It is what it is. It's not about frightening people, although I think we should every once in a while, it's about enlightening them. You know...Knowledge is power...fore-warned is fore-armed...that sort of thing. I will continue to eat my steaks, burgers, and pot roasts. The thing is, washing of hands, avoiding cross contamination, covering wounds apropriately, these things aren't just about cleanliness being next to godliness, clean hands clean mind, or whatever saying the moms of 20, 30, and 40 years ago used on us. It's about real and potentialy devastaing dangers and therefore, precautions must be followed. My experience has been that it usually takes a real good scare to get people to change their ways. Universal Precautions didn't exist in hospitals before AIDES scared people into a panic. Many of the practices we now accept as standard in the area of Infection control were, prior to the AIDES panic, only applied to patients in quarantined rooms. Thanks to a healthy dose of fear, avoiding contact with bodily fluids is something everyone takes seriously, now. Kids using dirtly old Boy Scout or Girl Scout knives to cut themselves and rub their open, bleeding wounds together, mixing their blood, becoming Blood Brothers is a part of my past, but thanks to the great motivator, FEAR, it won't be a part of my grandchildrens'. Butterfly a Filet Mignon, roll out some meatballs, stop in at Micky D's for a big burger. Enjoy your food. But be afraid enough so that you make safety measures a priorty in your home. By the way, I am not an "over cleaner"or a germaphobe. No disinfectant wipes for my desk, when a coworker has a cold, thank you very much. I like the germs that share my space with me. The more the merrier. If we expose ourselves to germs in small doses on a regular basis, we build stronger immune systems. A strong immune system may be the best protection, yet.
You see, silly doesn't mean stupid.
Eat meat, but be clean about it, and stay away from the steak tartar.
One more thing. Many animals will eat anything they are fed, whether their bodies are designed for that food or not. Chocolate can be fatal to dogs, but try to stop a dog who gets ahold of a 3 pound bag of M & Ms. I think it is you who needs to do aome more research. The digestive tract of cattle is designed for grass, not grain. Little Boy Blue's cows may have been in the corn, but in the real world, if left to fend for themselves, the cows will be found grazing in the grass, not grabbing ahold of ears of corn, ripping them off the stalk and chomping down, through the husk, mind you, for a mid-day snack. The only way a cow eats corn is if man is control of the cow's diet.
While I agree with most of your reply, I do take exception to some things -
MRSA is a bad actor, there's no doubt about that. There are multiple posters here who seem to believe – or at least want everyone else to believe – that MRSA infections area direct result of feeding antibiotics to animals, especially cattle. Mastitis really is only a concern with dairy cattle, because you can't sell the milk of a cow with mastitis (= lost income); however, you can't sell the milk from a cow on antibiotics, either, so dairy cattle simply are not given prophylactic protection against mastitis.
Your co-worker who had the knee surgery apparently picked up the infection in the hospital, where MRSA actually originated. The prevailing theory among people who should know is that the MRSA being seen on farms and in animals now actually was transferred there from a hospital source. I'm sure you also know that MRSA is now poppin up in place where it never existed – or was expected – before, in places that have nothing to do with animal agriculture. It is unlikely that these point sources are animal-derived.
And I am here to tell you that – given the chance – even if they'e never seen it before, cows absolutely will devour ears of corn "through the husk", but they won't stop there, they'll eat the entire corn stalk, ear and all. They have rumens so that they can truly digest and get the nutrients out of celluose; that doesn't mean they can't digest starch, too. Given this line of reasoning a deer, which is also a ruminant, "won't/can't" eat grain unless forced – you know anything about deer and what they eat?
Canada had healthy food to eat – we're good.
Unless I missed something this article doesn't tell you who the researchers are, if the bacteria are present in high enough levels to cause disease in a health adult, whether cooking will make the meat safe, etc. Bacteria actually are present in uncooked tubors than they are in uncooked meat. Does that mean we should stop eating tubors. This article is worse than useless.
Now that is some sensationalist journalism. Simply cook your meat and you don't have to worry about it. I eat red meat and poultry on a regular basis and have never been sick from it. If 50% of meat were contaminated, and cooking didn't kill the bacteria, then I would be really sick almost constantly. If you are really worried about it, invest a few bucks in a meat thermometer to ensure proper internal cooking temp. Problem solved.
oh great now that half the meat in usa is tainted and thanks to the brain dead republicans and that includes there noobies who know nothing (rookies). they forced cuts in the food inspection industry for their budget cuts and now expect thousands to probably drop dead. guess the GOP figures the way to win is kill off the opposition.
Quit buying it from places hiring ILLEGALS.
Staph may exist in "1/2 of U.S. meat..." or it may not.
This study certainly does not show that.
136 packages from 5 cities? A rather small statistical universe from which to level this sort of accusation at 50% of the meat available in the U.S., not to mention the details NOT disclosed here.
All this article proves is that crap "science reporting" is on the rise.
Considering the prevalence of S. aureus in humans anyway, ignorant "scare reports are a much bigger risk.
Meat of any kind.....including fish just doesn't taste good to me at 72 years old. I eat fresh veggies, brown rice, eggs and fresh fruit plus cheese. I've never had any kind of stomach virus for at least 35 years.
Help in the Form of an Alert System..NOT the Scare System @NipperAlert
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-590016
@TwM – your sense of compassion is overwhelming.
Well, seeing as staph is killed during cooking, it would make sense for people to take care if they have open wounds on their hands while handling meat. And, also know that staph a. is everywhere....you've got it on your skin, and probably colonies in your nostrils. So, does staph on meat frighten me? Um, no... I sure wish people would stop trying to scare the clueless public.
You can't stop eating meat really without any harm to the carnivora specimen you are as a human – meat has the proteins your body needs. Sanitary control becomes very important.
should'nt we take care of our bodies as we do our cars?
This is really scary! Are we the only country that posions our own food supply? I think it is so scary people just don't care anymore or they just don't know what to do. I take a Nutritional Cleansing product everyday to help with some of the impurities. body123.com Our country needs to wake up & find out what to do to either cut back or find better options.
This just in fromn our crack reporter, Captain Obvious, "Staph is on EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME!
i buy my meat at our local butcher,the meat is grown here.i never ever buy grocery store poultry, nor do i eat poultry in a restaurant.look at some of the chicken breasts in the grocery,they are huge that tells me that tyson loads them up on hormones.a few years ago there was a documentry on t.v.about poultry packing plants it was disgusting.also a few years ago a large chain grocery in our city was busted cleaning poultry in bleach water and re-packaging it if it became outdated.
Well bring on the bacteria!!!! I'm actually having some staph steak right now
well then I hope you get staph for being so insensitive to animals
What is REALLY scary is the risk of Mad Cow disease in just about every vegetable in the country. Bone meal has been used as a fertilizer on farmlands for decades. And farmlands contain a built-in risk with rainy weather, which encourages growth of a multitude of toxic fungi. Who knows what else is in that soil?Thank goodness I'm not a vegetarian of any type. I'll consume an occasional salad here & there, but to limit a diet to vegetables comprises a risk that is simply unacceptable.
The fact that surface bacteria are found on cuts of meat concerns me more than the drug-resistant ones. Drs. have helped create "Super-bugs" in humans by using antibiotics and antivirals as a first line of defense in humans for decades. Prophylactic mega-doses in livestock has the effect of giving a selective advantage to drug resistant strains. Killing off all non-resistant strains and any competition to the detrimental.l
So, according to the documentary Food Inc if the meat producers fed the cows grass for one week before the slaughter it would cut down on bacteria contaminated meat by over 75%. (i think that number was right , it could even be higher).
But the meat producers wont do this because it cuts into their profits too much. Their loss mitigation experts say it costs them less money to pay out lawsuits than to feed the cows grass?
Watch Food Inc. I am not a tree hugger but it was very informative to say the least.
136 samples from 26 stores, nationwide? That is statiscally COMPLETELY insignificant and not even news worthy except to cause hysteria. Period.
Forgive me if this sounds immature, but, "meat staph", haha.
this is quite possibly one of the worst polls ever constructed. Care to differentiate between "I stopped eating meat for other reasons" and "I didn't eat meat anyway"? What about "I've cut down somewhat" and "I have meat here and there, but I'm very careful." Maybe the pollster will use this data to conclude that an absurd percentage claims to "still eat meat" clumping all the vague answer choices together.
Or maybe he's just stupid.
Having been through MRSA with my daughter when she was born, these kinds of bacterias are absolutely not a joke & unless you've had it you will not understand how serious it is. And to whoever said that's why you cook the meat, did you even listen or just run your mouth? It's skin contact with the meat before it's cooked that spreads it...and you better hope you don't have any kind of cut or abrasion on your hands...
Who cares?
A hamburger sounds good tonight. I'm gonna die someday anyway. Minus well die eating something I like.
oh, so cut animals' lives short while your at it, huh?
Irradiate meat. Problem solved.
Oh I forget people have an irrational fear of that because it has the word "radiate" in it. Never mind that they have no idea what that even means. Never mind that my lawn sprinkler "radiated" water on to my lawn this morning. My lawn sprinkler must be causing cancer.
Voted Other: What's the point? I can be careful and you've told me I'll still get it. I can pick a company that CNN says is fine only to be told the next time the news gets slow that they're not only bad but have been covering it for decades.
There is no company that is careful enough. There is not a news group that can be trusted to not reach for the "incite panic" button every time they open their "mouths.
I represent the true jaded America. Don't ask me my opinion because if it isn't what you want to hear, you won't listen and everything you say is an exaggeration or an outright lie.
My grandmother never refrigerated her meat. They lived on a farm, killed it, cooked it and what was left over went in the cabinet. The only thing that got refrigerated was the dairy except the butter which sat on the counter! Now I would NEVER do this and neither would my mother (who was raised this way) but my grandmother lived until she was 87 and died from lung cancer (never smoked a day in her life, best Dr could figure it was the pesticides they used in the fields). She was diagnosed at 84 and was told it was advanced, 3 months to live. She lived nearly 4 yrs most of it on her own, alone on her farm. Basically what is going to get you is going to get you. Do the best you can to take care of yourself (don't smoke, cook meat at the recommended temp, make educated choices about the way you lead your life, ect) and you will be OK.
I'm glad someone remembers the time when you could leave butter out.
This freaks me out! Last night we cooked steaks on the little smokey and they were not well done at all. They were medium. Some were medium rare. I did get the steak that was closest to well done for my son. He is 3 and has already had MRSA. The antibiotics we needed to kick it costs $1000.
Shona, meat is simply muscle tissue that has gone through normal post-mortem biochemical changes. Most of the enzymes have been deactivated due to lowering of the pH, the lower 'body' temperature, etc. I go through this to make a point – "meat" is initially sterile . . . unless there was an infection in the muscle in the live animal at the time of slaughter. It only becomes 'contaminated' by poor slaughter or post-slaughter handling practices. Even then, it is only the exposed surfaces of the meat that become contaminated – unless somebody makes a deep cut into the bulk of a piece of meat (which then makes it an 'exposed' surface). There should be no bacteria deeper than the first 2-3 millimeters in a whole-muscle cut. Adequate heating of all the meat surfaces should once again render the meat "sterile". (It won't stay that way long, though, because of bacteria present on every surface in nature.) Ground meat is much tougher, because the entire bulk of the ground product is an "exposed surface" (due to grinding). These products should all be cooked sufficiently to destroy any pathogenic bacteria they may contain (follow internal temperature guidelines).
You have Staph on and in your right now. Only a small number of strains can cause disease. S. aureus can't infect via the GI tract either. Don't buy the hysteria. CNN should not put this stuff out.
MEAT GLUE
You don't really buy the steak – you buy the sizzle!
Wood cutting boards are safer than plastic!
http://www.albertforestproducts.com/cutboard.htm
No problem. When you go to the steak house, just ask the waitress which half of the meat is the safe half.
Thank you kristin for being a vegan. More meat for us!!!
I don't eat much meat anyway, and what I do eat, I cook the heck out of anyway. So the news is immaterial to me.
Of course the poll doesn't even mention the rational alternative to buying the constantly poisoned and unsafe product of the US factory farmed meat industry – find a local organic ethical rancher and don't ever buy the crap in supermarkets again!
eat in good health and with peace of mind that the animals only suffered on their last day, not their whole lives as in a factory farm.
This just in, 46% of CNN articles contain the deadly bacteria strepto-ignorance. The more people read the stupider they get. They can be cured though with a vaccination of common sense.
*like*
Since you used the word "stupider" I guess you are the proof to the truth of your statement.
All gotta die sometime. Not giving up my bloody, nom, nom, nom, steaks...
Bacteria is everywhere? Yes...so? Is that a reason to eat meat with E. coli? Not all bacterias are the same. Buy clean meat!
This is nothing new. There has always been bacteria in meat. The truth is that the conditions in most slaughterhouses, meat processing plants, and such have always been unsanitary. It's kind of hard to keep places like that clean, and things are going to get contaminated. Anybody ever read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair? I hear its a pretty good read.
I question the alarmist title along side a photo of Certified Organic Beef, more so than the safety of my steak from the local meat market, what is the real agenda here?
Ok....i think it sounds like a good night for char-broiled burgers and a fresh salad tonight. DONT TOUCH ME! my bacterias will KILL u
"Holly Cow Batman, we are not only paying to much but we are paying to kill ourselves with tainted meats" Time just to eat steamed veggies! Radiation fears, tainted foods, plagues and rampant sinknesses, social and political unrest worldwide. These are some pretty crappy times when you can't even drown your sorrows in a nice juicy porterhouse!
How many times have I seen people eat food in a grocery store while shopping? This after handling a dirty cart. But how many times havn people used the bathroom, not washed their hands, then handle door knobs, put your silverware out. Its everywhere! Our concern about meat should start earlier.
Stop eating in restuarants, that's where you can get more than what's in meat.
Have any of you tried deep fried bulls anus with tobasco....,It's to die for!!!
No, but I've had boiled horse c@ck with honey mustard! Scrumptious!
I'm going vegan right now
I stopped eating meat 2 and a half years ago and since then, I haven't been sick, I've lost a bunch of weight, I have more energy and my cholesterol(that was way to high for my age) is at a normal level. We're not meant to eat meat and I know that may bother and even offend some people but it's undeniable truth. Now I'm not naive enough to think what I say matters because we all, including myself, live under some shell, either big or small, of ignorance. But it's worth looking into, you'll feel the effects sooner than you'd think. Try at least a week with no meat, at the worst thing that could happen is you might learn a little self-discipline. Also: It's in the vegetables, fruits and grains. Not bleached flour, cheese and sugar.
Who gives a shit?
I know you miss me....
Thank you for your meat share!
Oh for frick's sake.
All I'm going to respond to is- CNN pushes the organic local blah blah blah... The picture, sorry to break it to some of you folks, is just a picture.
@MsInformation-You know I said I had nothing more to say but then you just had to insult me. Wow good job, you get the catty points for the day. Now actually from what I see you seem to be fighting the world and are trying to back it with medical journals and science. Let me remind you that doctors and the public once said not to eat tomatoes because they were poisonous when actually they were leeching lead from the dishes people used. Also scientists once upon a time thought the earth was flat. Oh and there is this book that says a man fed thousands with a few fish. Also according to many scientists there is a lochness monster and big foot. So I believe everything I read and see, much like yourself it seems.
For your information "Pre-Vet" it isn't a line that works with the ladies becasue I am a lady and also I don't toss that around like some badge. I was merely proving to you (which who are you to me so why do I need to prove anything to you) that I have infact studied my biology like a good little kid should. Yes and people think they are Pre-Vet and give up, well aware, have seen many do it. And I don't care what the world see in my "vet dreams" I just wish people wouldn't give into this mass hysteria that you and others CNN included are fueling.
I know how often I took antibiotics, and I know how often I do it now. If you would like a complete medical history I can get you one of those, but again you don't care, and I don't have to prove anything.
Your opinion of my education is very very irritating. You don't know me, my study habits, my background, and becasue I refuse to become a know it all, here is the proof see for your self, shove it down your throat idiot I am therefore completely uneducated. Don't puff my chest until I completed some degrees.... Hows this? I achieved 2 associates (AS and and AA) in 2yrs while working full time, and a BS in 3.5 yrs. Pre-Vet Major with a double minor in business management and psychology. So I know al ittle bit how money/business works and how to get people to spend, how to get people to become paranoid and basically jump off the deep end.
I figured if you were to pick apart my child like needing more education remarks then you would pick apart my funny insane remarks about zombies. Guess you are having a bad day and can't laugh at those points.
Basically you are just a mean person, who has nothing better to do than argue against a multitude of people that disagree with your opinion. And the only thing different about our styles of argumenting is you went out of your way to attack me on an origianl post, one that was not an attack on a persons' specific post, and I had a response to you. So there goes your banter for me arguing with you. With your level of research and factual findings backing hysteria and untruths you'd be great in politics! Maybe you should run for POTUS! Or maybe you should take all this time spent using text books to argue with people and go cure diseases, wipe out staph, and the boogie man. Done wasting my time on you so don't try to raise my hackles again. Save it for someone else.
Hey, idiotzoobreakout, don't let trolls get to you. There are people who launch personal insults against everyone they can. they should be ignored.
Yeah, yeah, yeah...go write a book instead of these long, drawn out comments.
I have drastically cut down my meat consumption, ONLY consuming humanely raised animals. I am unwilling to tolerate man's lack of compassion for these living creatures who can suffer physically and emotionally as we can. When are men going to get that the present paycheck is not worth the infliction of pain upon our fellow creatures. I have nothing against eating and using animal life when it is raised and killed under compassionalte circumstances.
At least it's the kind of staph that's resistant to frontline antibiotics. I don't mind paying a few dollars more for the good stuff.
all you have to do is cook your meet properly make sure your hands are washed after handling and clean surfaces that the raw meat touched during prep.Maybe they need to go back to the plants where this meat comes from and make they clean the places up to rid it of the bacteria and tell the people who handle the meat about washing hands after the bathroom or use the hand gels .All it takes it one nasty person that does not clean their hands after using the bathroom in a plant to spread the bacteria all over the place door handles ,etc . Not washing hands is playing russian roulette with your life or someone elses
Natural Selection. There is no better way to understand Natural Selection as this. We have to educate and use the knowledge in order to survive. And yet the resturants high the cheapest food handlers they can to make a buck. If you are smart, you won't eat anything that isn't cooked at resturants. Salads are good low cal foods but some of the most dangerous foods to eat at resturants second only to raw in the middle hamburgers! Cook at home and live!
I'm like most people in that I don't toss chunks of raw flesh in my mouth. I've evolved a brain, and that brain knows how to use a stove, oven, grill, microwave, or steamer.
what they don’t realize is that it takes better than 10,000 colony forming units per gram to cause the toxin that creates the staph response….they failed to report that their counts were most likely between 10 and 100.
Interesting now isn’t it.
So BRING ON THE STEAK BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!
47% of meat-eaters in U.S. will eat contaminated food! (...is what this should say based on the media addicted, misinformed public.) Handle, wash, prep, and cook your food thoroughly and you will never have to worry. Now if they do a study on just fruits or vegetables you would also see a high contamination rate. This has been common knowledge for decades. What's next, a report on how a lack of oxygen can kill? ohhh nooooes
I no longer buy meat at the supermarket. We buy direct from the farmer. Every year we purchase a side of beef, a whole pig, 4 turkeys and about 15 chickens. Not only am I saving a lot of money we are eating healthier. I know all the beef is grass fed and all the animals are very well taken care of and no growth hormones or antibiotics are used. I feel better about what I am feeding my children now that I know where their food is coming from.
Thank you CNN! The mindless, simpleton sheep that make up most of our country (USA) should be ashamed of themselves for criticizing your very important article. These people are clearly in denial about the increased harmful bacteria levels and recalls of our tainted meat as of late! Our meat industry needs a lot more regulation, since they cannot seem to SAFELY regulate themselves in their lackadaisical quest for profits over meat safety! I refuse to consume meat anymore myself, especially after an incident where I got E.Coli poisoning and almost dies when my kidneys started shutting down after consuming tainted meat several years ago!
Interestingly beef has the lowest presence of contamination at 37%.
"We collected and tested a total of 136 meat and poultry samples from 5 US cities, encompassing 80 unique brands from 26 grocery stores. S. aureus contamination was most common among turkey samples (77%; 20/26), followed by pork (42%; 11/ 26), chicken (41%; 19/46), and beef (37%; 14/38)."(Waters, et. al, 2011)
The study also showed that the new strain of ST398 was not present in the beef tested, but was present in Pork, Chicken, and Turkey. This was also supported by the last study done on Staph contamination of meat products in the US.
Figure 2.
Multilocus sequencing typing of food-borne S. aureus isolates. (A) Phylogenetic relationships and relative abundances of the different sequence types identified among the retail meat and poultry samples (the area of the circles is proportional to the number of isolates constituting the different sequence types). (B) Relative proportion of the isolates from each meat and poultry type made up of the different sequence types.
The study also found that a portion of the meat products were not of American origin.
"All isolates were screened against antibiotics that are commonly used to treat severe MRSA infections. We identified 1 vancomycin-intermediate-resistant isolate and 1 daptomycin-resistant isolate. Vancomycin, daptomycin, and their analogs were never approved for US food animal production; therefore, these findings were unexpected and may suggest origins other than US food animals."(Waters, et. al, 2011)
They also failed to link this study to any demonstable effect on people.
"Our data demonstrate that retail meat and poultry are frequently contaminated with multidrug-resistant S. aureus, but the public health relevance of this finding is unclear. European and North American studies indicate that ST398 can successfully colonize and infect humans [4, 10], but few studies have investigated the risk of human colonization and infection with S. aureus from meat and poultry products [11, 12]. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded that the risk for MRSA infection from food handling and consumption was low; however, this was based on a small number of studies [11]. Furthermore, EFSA did not evaluate the risk from methicillin-susceptible multidrug-resistant S. aureus, which is more common than MRSA among food samples."(Waters, et. al, 2011)
Some interesting information that seems to have been interpreted condescendingly.
1. Andrew E. Waters, Tania Contente-Cuomo, Jordan Buchhagen, Cindy M. Liu,Lindsey Watson, Kimberly Pearce, Jeffrey T. Foster, Jolene Bowers,Elizabeth M. Driebe, David M. Engelthaler, Paul S. Keim, and Lance B. Price
Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in US Meat and Poultry
Clin Infect Dis. (2011) first published online April 15, 2011 doi:10.1093/cid/cir181
Oh, my! The "real" story, instead of the cherry-picked and possibly out-of-context quotes and 'half-truths' designed for no reason other than sensationalism. Thank you for posting the actual quotes, including the authors' own admission that they don't know what the public health implication is for the U.S.
Passive SMOKEITIS ?
Dont tell me ,the animals got passive smoke right ?
The only way you get sick from it is if you eat it raw! Wow imagine that, eating raw meat is bad for you.
Hi COOKIT. I want to share with you that I have eaten about 3,000 lbs of raw ground beef in my 65 years. My mother got me started with it. I have never had a problem & I've lived in PA, MI, NC, SC & NJ. I really like it.
Please read Eric Schlosser's book titled 'FAST FOOD NATION'. It is a 'must read'! The book delves into the many challenges, lack of safety dangers, and realities of the U.S. meat industry, and how 'corners are cut' for the sake of profit. This should be required reading for every American, no matter their political stripes.
Who cares!?! That's why we have guidelines on what temperature, and for low long to cook meat. You think if you go out and kill game meat it doesn't have bacteria on it when you get home? Just follow proper cooking methods and forget about it.
Duh! That's why we cook it. Have for more than 35,000 years. This is so ridiculous.
Well, its time for everyone to start eating halal or kosher meat!
this is the most pathetic story i've read in ages! why not lick your own hands... forearms... lips... or kiss another person on the lips or french kiss?
there's thousands of bacteria... even resistant and dangerous ones on our skin... and for those who loves kissing... especially frenchy kiss... think of all of those nasty oral bacteria being transferred to you! yep!
i bet the author is a freak show at best. one who needs to seek psychiatric care.
Yeah, I guess you are smarter than all the major medical professionals with PhDs and such. I should probably just listen you to for all my medical advice and not a study from the January issue of Archives of Otolaryngology ...”There is an alarming nationwide increase in the prevalence of pediatric methicillin-resistant (staphylococcus) aureus head and neck infections,” Drs. Iman Naseri, Robert Jerris and Steven E. Sobol write in the study. I bet you have to Google "Otolaryngology."
By all means hang a carrot out there and leave it dangling . . . pray tell us what they believe to be the cause of this "alarming nationwide increase". Sounds like kids need to stop eating their boogers. Or maybe, just maybe, pediatricians need to stop prescribing antibiotics for every little ear infection that comes along, especially when the infection is thought to be viral in nature. (And, no, I don't have to look up what an ENT specialist is.)
umm... YOU NEED TO LEARN TO READ! I SAID...
why not lick your own hands... forearms... lips... or kiss another person on the lips or french kiss?
there's thousands of bacteria... even resistant and dangerous ones on our skin... and for those who loves kissing... especially frenchy kiss... think of all of those nasty oral bacteria being transferred to you! yep!
THAT MEANS... THERE'S THOUSANDS OF BACTERIA ON THE NORMAL FLORA... AND A FEW OF WHICH ARE RESISTANT AND HARMFUL!
WHAT AN IDIOT YOU ARE.
You can realy taste the difference between manufactured meat and freeranged naturaly raised meat. And its more healthier for you then the manufactured meat
humans are carnivores and at the top of the food chain for a reason . I would like to keep it that way.....so keep eatin your meat people!
the top of the food chain? are you serious? it's just that we're the only ones cruel and sadistic enough to come up with such gruesome and horrifying slaughter methods as the ones we use.
You obviously know little about 'nature' and the way things work "out there" in the 'real world'. What about those predators who infect their prey with a bacteria-laced bite and then wait for the resulting infection to weaken the animal sufficiently that they can claim their 'kill' without having to chase it down and catch it? What about those predators who start to dine on their meals while the prey is still very much alive? Yet "we're the only ones cruel and sadistic enough to come up with such gruesome and horrifying slaughter methods as the ones we use"? Get a grip on reality.
Wow, I'm not surprised. I've had an unusual feeling about these products lately.
The survey is sad. 136 packages is not a statistical sample. 5 cities is not a statistical sample. When they have tested several thousand packages from at least 20 cities in the U.S., then I will consider their results to be valid.
I am surprised that no one has commented about my eating the 3,000 lbs of raw ground beef. I wonder why.
I was working on it, Wally. A ton and a half of cow is a lot. How many years did it take?
About 60 years. I'm 65 now & I started when I was about 5. I also use a lot of salt on everything I eat. My blood pressure is always 110 over 70 & I don't take anything for it either. I also have not missed a days work in my life either from sickness.
CNN is mass hysteria!!! Nothing positive or constructive. A lot of sensationalist junk.
CNN creates mass hysteria with their news. They create violence, prejudiced, and the continuation of mass tension.
Yeah but if you cook it properly and don't eat it raw right out of the wrapper, wouldn't that kill most, if not all, of the staph bacteria?
My meat gave this chick an infection....it wasn't Staph though...
This article sponsored by PETA and brought to you by CNNsensationalism.com "We make the news... even if there isn't any".
I guess my cardiologist works for PETA too, whenever he hands out that big Amer. Med. Assoc. study about eating less red meat for heart health, he's secretly operating as a PETA agent! Wow! I would have never know if not for your ignorant post!
This is why you COOK your meat.
Also, if your immune system is healthy, a little staph isn't going to kill you.
And everyone has a healthy immune system, right? Oh wait, crap, I guess not newborns, not cancer patients, not people with immune disorders, not the elderly, etc, etc. YOU LOSE, BAD ARGUMENT.
I think what CNN failed to mention how much of the cattle in this country that are raised with a life time regimine of antibiotics...how their bodies and the industrial farms effectively breed antibiotic resistant strains of staph. If you eat meat that been industrially farmed, Tysons or is simply "USDA approved" meat you not only also consume those antibiotics, but you put your self at risk handling meat that has been raised to form mutant MRSA.
Excellent point!
Porkchop must be what you have between your ears, where a functioning brain should be. Pay attention now: any meat that could go into interstate commerce (that means it could cross a state line, chop) must be USDA inspected, and must be "approved". It doesn't matter whether you raised it in your backyard on nothing but grass or whether it was finished in a feedlot in Wherever, USA.
There are people in africa who consume rotting fish and rarely get sick while "civilised" people with their medicine cant eat one bite of rotting meat. Man made chemicals and geneticly engineered foods are weakening our imune system with each new generation.
Meat is fine. Man was meant to eat meat. Animal fat and protein is necessary for the human body. We are not herbivores and there is no scietific studies showing that in our ancestry we were. It would be great if they'd stop feeding cattle and chickens corn and grain to fatten them up faster just to get them to market. It should be mandatory that a cow has to eat grass and chickens eat seed.. Just let these animals grown for human consumption eat their natural diets. The US won't starve because a cow takes longer to fully develop or the drum stick or chicken breast isn't the size of a cantalope. It's so sad how perverted the cow/chicken industry has become. Just let the animals be animals and if you are going to feed them, feed them what they would eat in the wild.
AMEN. We are carnivores, but we are not cruel-ivores. There is no reason the meat industry has to operate how it does.
it is scientifically untrue that you need meat to be healthy. more accurately, eating meat is UNhealthy.
This has got to be the least informative and most hysteria provoking article I have ever read. Over half the population is colonized with staph in their nasal passages. It only causes a problem for those who have a suppressed immune system or if it manages to get into a wound. The article does not address at all wether or not the staph in the meat is dangerous. Such as what temperature does the meat have to be cooked to and for how long to kill the bacteria, is their enough bacteria growing on the meat to cause and infection, or whether or not our digestive acids/enzymes are enough to kill it. Most bacteria are very susceptible to being destroyed by cooking and our digestive system does a pretty good job of things as well. If staph could readily cause illness by ingestion you would expect lots of people to get sick simply from poor hygiene (blowing their nose and then eating food).
You're minimizing a bacteria that kills more people in the U.S. than AIDS. According to a TIME article, in some hospitals, as many as 80% of personnel have been found to carry staph in their nasal passages…infecting newborns in hospital nurseries who are defenseless against the staph.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,868340,00.html#ixzz1JcclWBSh
Yes, and a similar percentage of people who do NOT work in hospitals are also carrying around this bacteria in their nasal passages because THATS WHERE IT NORMALLY LIVES. This bacteria is everywhere – not just in meat. The reason it causes infection is because it breaks it enters the blood stream of someone who picked it up from any number of areas – most likey a handshake from a friend, not from holding a package of meat. And certainly not from eating it.
OMG here we go!! People ate raw meat back in the day and were just fine. The carcus of a cow is sterilized with a spray to kill 99% of bacteria when it is slaughtered. Anything germ that does not die will die when you cook it. Yes, that is one reason why you need to cook a steak right and not eat it rare. These germs exsist because of us humans. Not the animal. We screwed it up! If we didn't, we could eat raw meat all day long. Another reason why you should cook your meat fully is because you stomach does not break down the conective tissue well in raw meat because your digestive system has adapted to cooked meat. The mass production of meat has tainted the meat we consume through cross feeding. If we did not start that, there would be no worries! Way to goooooooooo humans!!!!!
just spray your steak with lysol before eating. problem solved. duhhhhh
Is this news?
Atleast I see there are still thinking people in the US population. Good responses. Get your meats from a trusted source, prepare it properly and enjoy. I love BBQ myself
I don't know where my prior comment went, but here is an abbreviated one. I've eaten 3,000 lbs of RAW GROUND beef in my life & have never felt any discomfort!!!!
The large majority of food borne illness and "food poisoning" that is caused by staph is from staph toxin, not an actual infection from the bacteria. It doesn't matter it it's resistant to antibiotics or not because they have no effect on the toxin. This is not a new issue. There are no more bacteria on the outsides of meats than there were before.
DOWN WITH STUPID GREEDY CORPORATIONS!!!!!
And just because it says its organic doesnt mean its organic. STUPID FOOD CORPORATIONS! Also there are some bacteria that can survive the cooking process, unless that is you burn it to a charred crisp lol.
For all of you saying "Just cook it and you'll be OK".... I have one question: How do you handle all the things that the contaminated meat touched along the way, that you DON'T cook? A significant amount of food poisoning and bacterial infections are spread via cross-contaminated utensils, hands, vegetables, surfaces, etc.
And on this "freedom" thing – don't you realize you are NOT making free choices when you go to the supermarket and buy a steak? You're participating in one of the most controlled, subsidized, lobbied, corrupt, and GOVERNTMENT CONTROLLED industries there is! Your demonized hippie vegan organic farmers aren't getting a DIME from the government, but YOU are, whether you like it or not!
Amazing how comforting a little ignorance is.
Proper cooking AND handling... Idiot...
exactly..in other words, you don't leave your cheeseburger on the counter for 5 hours then come back and finish it.
which you can control so well, right? packaging? restaurants? butchers?
yes...I'm not eating a cold burger from any resturaunt, nor am a not cooking my meat from a butcher, grocery store, etc. So yes very controllable.
Those of you saying "so what" should look at the stats on the CDC web site: "We estimate that foodborne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year." Meat hygiene in this country is way behind other developed nations. For example any supermarket where cooked meats are displayed next to raw meat or fish and cross-handled by servers, something that's illegal in other countries to stop bacteria from raw meat transferring to your cooked deli sandwich meat. Nothing you can do at home to stop that.
Hmm, what was that country that had a massive mad-cow disease issue? It wasn't the US. It was the UK... As a matter of fact, they still question you if you've traveled there during a certain timeframe when you try to donate blood. I think the US is doing a pretty good job. Do the foodbourne illnesses you quoted (somehow, probably pulled it out of thin air) include all foods or just meat? Maybe you should write for CNN!
Oh, Mike, Mike – It’s so coincidental that I did my Sr. thesis on Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as Mad-Cow, and as usual, your info is lacking. Why don’t you address Sarah’s point instead of changing the subject to the UK BSE outbreak (which, by the way, the U.S. did have several cases) – what say you about all of the deaths in the U.S. that Sarah mentions? What if you get a sandwich that is contaminated with MRSE?
MsDirection – You strike once again. How many of those "several cases" of BSE in the U.S. were actually contracted in the U.S.? Last account I had, every single one of them had been proven to be contracted overseas, and then the person moved into the U.S., but let's not let fact get in the way of our agenda and our argument, right?
Watch documentaries like "Food Inc" and "Future of Food" then you will see why. We are slowly killing our selfs with man made chemicals and food. I stoped taking medicine when i get sick to allow my imune system to strengthen and now I hardly get sick. Also manufactured meat is bad! I can eat local freerange meat raw and never get sick. And geneticly engineered plant food is bad! I stick with what I grow myself.
Once again CNN puts up a headline meant to scare people. No researcher worth their weight in water would publish a study based on 136 samples out of the millions of packages sold daily and jump to this conclusion. Sanitation needs to be improved but this study is just attention grabbing b...sht.
These bacteria hold up to antibiotics but how do they fair against temperature and my digestive track? All this article is telling me is that meat contains common bacteria, that can be fought off by wearing gloves and not rubbing the meat in open wounds.
uhh....isn't that why you cook it first? LOL
If meat was contaminated so bad then we should've been getting sick forever. This is just another way for the media to get a news story
idiotzoobreakout – It is soooooooooo apparent that you are 22, skipped the Biology section on types of bacteria, and haven't read much else about antiobiotic resistant staph & its causes (which are the over-use of antibiotics in the beef industry, for starters). Leaving out PETA reasons all together, there are health reasons to reduce consumption of red meat. One reason is staph, which kills more people per year than AIDS. It's quite dangerous, even with proper prep.
p.s. – I grew up on a farm too, and I suggest you consider some continuing education in the matter before spouting off.
It is clear that you waste a lot of money giving to PETA every year. What are the reasons to not eat meat? And staph is not one of them, since cooking and handling meat properly eliminates the risk. Please provide more data and not just fear mongering from an extremist group. There is no data to support what you are claiming.
Mike – I've provided several links to very reputable sources about staph and the rise of antibiotic resistant staph. While the benefits of meat include zinc, iron, and protein (all are available from other sources) the risks negate these. I thought is was "common knowledge" that red meat is one of the first things doctors have heart patients cut out of their diet, as red meat is high in saturated fats and "bad" cholesterol, which can lead to clogged arteries and heart disease, but if you want sources, start with the AMA. In fact, don't just Goolge it on AMA – call your doctor and ask. Call a medical professional that you trust, a nurse even, better yet a cardiologist. The Food Standards Agency has launched an investigation into the safety of red meat after research suggested that beef, lamb and pork are the cause of one in six outbreaks of food poisoning. Furthermore, cancer is a MAJOR concern and multiple studies have linked red meat to cancer. Examples: A pan-European study of nutrition and cancer found that people who ate more than two 80g portions of red meat a week were 30 per cent more likely to develop bowel cancer. Too much red meat can have an adverse effect on bone health. The digestive process of protein leaves acid residues in the body that need to be neutralized with alkalizing minerals – and these may be taken from the bones, leading to a higher risk of osteoporosis and other conditions. g red meat every day could double your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. Scientists believe that collagen, found in red meat, may trigger an immune system response, which may also affect the joints. Above all, please DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH, and stop whining that other people should do it for you. I have posted enough here to keep you busy, I think. Go get some Journal of Amer. Med articles for yourself.
MsInformed – You lost any credibility you might have had when you said that the "cause" of antibiotic-resistant staph was the overuse of antibiotics in the beef industry. Cite just one unrefuted, peer-reviewed scientific journal article that draws this conclusion, if you're able. You obviously have an agenda, I'm just not sure what it is yet. You keep bringing up that Staph kills more than AIDS does every year, like you're trying to form a link between staph in food and the number of deaths from staph infections, but over 95% of these staph infections have nothing to do with food. It is a nice job of MsDirection, though.
MsSedtheBoat – "Scientists believe that collagen, found in red meat, may trigger an immune system response, which may also affect the joints." This sentence is rather ambiguous – is 'collagen' only found in red meat? or is it only the collagen found in red meat that may trigger the immune system response? What about the collagen that really is in white meat? or fish? or any other animal? Do you even know what 'collagen' is, or are you just regurgitating some BS that you read somewhere that fits your agenda? What 'scientists' believe this?
You are very ignorant in your understanding of microbes. it seems that YOU are the one that missed biology, let alone a doubt you studied microbiology. Please stop arguing with people with your misconstrued information.
Haha. 22 yes. Skipped biology no. I am well versed. I am a Pre-Vet major (large animal mind you) at Iowa State, yeah that school is knid of a big deal, so I spend quite a bit of time around farm animals, disease, bacteria, took food science (learned about the pros/cons of anitbiotics, organic herding, feedlots, the entire range of ways to raise livestock), ag econ (which exposed me to the money side of things also another reason to use or not use anitbiotics) biology, blah blah blah blah blah blah need I go on? I also have real world experince not just text book bull.
I am also well versed in resistant staph, a couple members of my family have endured MRSA.
"Leaving out PETA reasons" ha that makes me laugh, sure there are small reasons to reduce red meat intake (which you failed to give one example aside from the topic at hand) such as high LDL cholesterol but that can also be counter balanced by the intake of HDL rich foods. Red meat provides an abundance of iron and other vitamins and minerals.
I am pretty sure I mentioned the over use of antibiotics, sorry for leaving out the beef industry part and just sticking to the stupid humans that need them for everything. Also I am dreadfully sorry for not wanting to sound like a know it all twit who has to make prefessional type references but instead chose to talk in smaller words with a twist of comedy.
I noticed you didn't attack anything else I said, espcially the bull at the end with the zombies and melt down, so maybe I just struck a chord with being young and oboviously versed and have a good self formed opinion. Maybe the length of my posted peeved you I don't know. . Oh and I will continue to "spout off" as you put it. To some its voiceing an educated well informed opinion. To you I probably just sound like a snot nosed punk. Either way I have said my peace and have nothing more to say.
ps- Thanks for the advice on continuing education, I think I will as I have been Have a good day :)
“Pre-vet” – LMAO – the attrition rate for all the undergrads claiming to be “pre-vet” is hilariously minimal. I think 90% of my freshman class (“back-in-the-day”) thought they were “pre-vet” – ha! You can check w/ your Iowa guidance counselor for the figures on that one – it’s abysmally low, so I don’t give a rats that you are “pre-vet” – that might be a nice line with the ladies on campus but you’ll need to spend a good number of years more in college before the real world cares about your “vet dreams.” While you are at it, check with you MOM about how often you got antibiotics – bet she loved your punk-a** and took you to the doc as a kid too. Moms do that. There are more than “small reasons” to reduce red meat. I think you should “phone a friend” about that – maybe Mike can get you in on a conference call to his Dr. This appears to be Mike & pre-vet-goof-ball vs. the American Medical Association, World Health, etc, etc. I think the evidence falls in my court….I don’t care about your childish zombie remarks, so I didn’t address them, and I would hardly characterize your opinion as “educated…” in fact I think I said you needed further education…so you should stop tossing around your “pre-vet” crud and maybe wait until you actually have completed some degrees before you get all puffy in the chest ;-)
I guess "I have said my peace and have nothing more to say" means "I have to run to class now..." LOL
Man... I was really craving a juicy hamburger for lunch.. now, not so much
Cecil – the main point is that the bacteria is ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT. Much more dangerous, and no, it wasn't around 50 years ago.
And if you read the whole article instead of the first line, you'd see that cooking it properly eliminates it. Reading comprehension folks. And you have the same antibiotic resistant bacteria all over your body, clothes, and who knows where else. Ironically, the human immune system is incredible and can handle quite a bit in people who it is healthy...
Well, not everyone is healthy, and unfortunately, staph likes to travel, from an opened meat package into someone’s nose (a nurse perhaps) and then to the hospital – where it infects newborns and the elderly at disproportionate rates. More people die from staph than AIDS in the U.S. –or isn’t that important in Mike’s world? I'm not sure how you can keep arguing that it's a "non-issue" when clearly ALL of the major medical establishments, from WHO to the AMA, site staph as a MAJOR issue of the 21st century. It seems to be Mike vs. entire scientific community.
MsInformed – So you are implying that the "antibiotic resistant" staph in hospitals actually has its origins in food animals? Not entirely impossible, I don't suppose – but then, neither is winning the lottery.
I wasn't aware that nurses ingested their meat by inhaling it raw. The things you can learn on the internet!
It is highly doubtful that staph on a meat surface, or even in the meat purge, would be aerosolized by normal kitchen handling procedures such that it could be inhaled and colonize the nostrils.
Mare – I know my butcher has his own herd – customers are even welcome to visit the farm & choose their beef. It's almost still moo-ing. It's also not shot full of antibiotics, etc. Also, we grown our own veggies & shop at the Farmer's Market – avoiding MOST of the chimicals is still better than avoiding none. If you have someone in your family with cancer, you'll become very aware of the chemical industry & what to avoid. It's no "laughing" matter, as I doublt you'll laugh when you or a loved one gets sick.
You are the exception, not the rule.
I live down the road from a "certified organic" farmer – while he does't spray chemicals, both fields on either side of him spray – so his produce is not chemical free by any means. Also, my grandfather just celebrated his 95th birthday – has never been sick a day in his life, only 1 hospital stay (had eye surgery). He doesn't give a damn about where his food comes from.
Congrats to gramps – most of the chemicals we see today weren't around in his youth, and neither were the antibiotics that created the antibiotic resistant staph that this article mentions. A "case study" of one guy who lives to be 95+ proves nothing. Staph deaths have now surpassed AIDS deaths in the U.S. That's a JAMA fact. The certified organic farmer that you live by could actually lose her/her organic certification if he/she doesn't have a proper buffer from over-spray and run-off from the neighbor’s chemicals. The requirements are VERY stringent. You can read more on the state of TX requirements with the link below. Again, I think you are proving that you are under-informed about what it takes to be certified as an organic farm. If you're trying to make the argument that the farm bureau's & the USDA aren't doing their job, then that means they aren't properly protecting us from chemicals used in regular farming practices either – which, again, would speak more to the point of this article, than against it.
Please READ before you post further:
http://www.ehow.com/how_6633345_become-certified-organic-farmer-texas.html
http://www.balancedharvest.com/content/2048
See Sirtuins, and the FOXO genes, and see mitochodrial superoxide dismutase induction: Some are born with a GG FOXO gene donated one each by their parents. Like lotto winners, they don't have to watch their diet much, and they're going to live to over 108 (unless a bus hits them.) Most of us have CC or CG or GC. Bummer, huh. Fortunately, it's not entirely outside of our own control really. Just eat 70% of the calories as the aforementioned lucky few, or better yet, eat a diet rich in Sirtuin activating calorie restriction mimetics including red wine, blueberries, peanuts, (resveratrol, pterostilbenes) and the all important soybean sprout (phytoestrogens, lunasin and iron chelating phytic acid.) It's far more likely that the iron in the beef will kill you (See Fenton Reaction) before the staph or MRSA from the dead cow or the butcher's grubby hands. Thanks CNN (Certainly Not News.)
Don't worry. We are all going to die next year on what is the date? Dec twenty something. What a bunch of Bull.
I just got back from picking up some grass fed beef and pastured eggs from a local farm, and read this. The article only tested store bought beef-it would have been interesting to see how grass fed, all natural, and hormone free beef would have tested compared to the store bought stuff. I'm guessing it would have had a better outcome!
oops-meant antibiotic free, not hormone free :)
CNN stop serving Tofu.
For those who keep saying staph is "not dangerous" – The JAMA reports drug-resistant staph infects more than 90,000 Americans a year and contributes to the deaths of more than 18,000- more than AIDS.
MISS-information should be your name. People do die from staph every year but the overwhelming majority are from blood poisoning. It occurs in hospitals more often because people in hospitals are immuno-compromised and can't resist the staph and keep its numbers low enough to prevent toxins from forming and building up. This staph aureus is everywhere just as other bacteria that people like you freak over (E. Coli for example). If the toxin is ingested like it causes vomiting, diarrhea and so forth for several hours RARELY resulting in death. Learn more about the subject before trying to spread your hysteria.
Just remember, when you people that support fear mongering like this pick your nose and eat your boogers, you are ingesting the same bacteria :)
You just made my day! Don't forget about hose that bite their finger nails too!!!
Typical tabloid journalism. Sell a worst case negative scenario in the beginning of the piece and then admit later that cooking will mostly likely negate the threat. Most likely if we tested meat 10,20, or 50 years ago we'd find beaucoup bacteria then too. A barnyard or feedlot is anything but sterile.
CNN, Why would you display a picture of meat that is clearly labelled organic with this article? The article does not mention problems specific to organic meat at all. This is very misleading and irresponsible. This is not the first time I have noticed such things in your articles that pertain to food safety. Readers beware, their must be some strong conflict of interest.
I was wondering the same thing!
OMG... I'm reading this, and can hardly contain my laughter. It's just way too funny.
1 – for all those "organic" only people – There is no such thing! Unless the food is produced in a bubble, chemicals are in/on your "organic" foods. Chemicals are in the are, in the water, in the soil. No getting around it. You are all fools for paying top dollar for "organic"
2 – you people who only get your meat from the "local butcher" – who cares, guess who he gets it from? The same exact place that I get my small packs of meat from. You just pay more. He doesn't go out and hand pick that cow for slaughter, nor does he break it down. He gets it, cryovac packed, and makes 1 or 2 cuts, then repackages it for you.
Don't believe me – ask them some time. Go out to the local 'organic' farm, and check them out. If you can prove to me that no one has ever used chemicals on that land, they are under a bubble, and make their own water, then I'll believe you. Till then, I'll buy my veggies from the store (grown at the same farm that your 'organic' stuff is grown at) for less money!
BTW -I do grow most of my own veggies, don't use chemicals, and have to cut out bugs, but I don't call it organic.
I just got back from getting grass fed beef from a local farm, and I do talk to the farmer, I do see the cows in the field, and I do know what they're being fed. I buy my meat right from their little farm store, which is on their farm property. Buying local, and right from the source, is the best way to shop (and their prices are the same or cheaper than the grocery store!).
Proof? Oh wait, this is the internet, you can just pull stuff out of your rear and present it as fact...
So, what I see with my own eyes isn't good enough? The fact that I see the cabbage farmer (non-organic) spraying his field, which is located next to the organic corn farmer, and watching the wind carry the chemicals over. Or the rain water run off from one field to another. Both these farmers are in Ontario NY, I drive by them at least twice a day, every day.
Or the organic dairy farmer in Skaneateles, NY, right next to where I work – yeah, I guess his dairy is organic – the cows aren't ever outside. They are in open walled barns. I can look out a window and see the entire farm. Never a wondering cow.
I guess I'm just making this stuff up because I'm got access to the internet.
mare – Actually USDA Organic cert. is a rigorous ordeal. You do have to "prove" that the land hasb't had chemicals on it for a certain number of past years. You should probably stop laughing and get reading, so you don't sound so un-informed in the future. Here is a link: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2007/10/17/drug-resistant-staph-deaths-outstrip-aids-toll/
This study is worthless. They only tested 26 stores in 5 cities. I would assume that if one package in a store was tainted, there's a good chance that most if not all the packages bought at that store could have been tainted (since the meat was prepared on the same surfaces and using the same tools). There's also the possibility that some of the stores tested were supplied with meat from the same supplier; a supplier uses the same surfaces and tools.
I'm not saying that there aren't issues...but first let's collect some valid and significant data before we start creating panic.
CNN likes to scare people. They are notorious for this. They are very sensationalist, not much substance in their content. Need to send your reporters to journalism classes at the BBC.
this story is crap... there is always going to be a special interest involved with this research...
Gah. This kind of stuff just irritates me. Heres why.
1.) This staph bacteria is found on everyone's skin and people have not started to cut off their own skin to avoid the bacteria.
2.) I am sure all of you concerned with the hype wash your hands and then use a paper towel to open the bathroom door when finished to avoid bacteria, you also probably wash and wipe down everything you eat and drink off of becaue sitting around bacteria will get on your stuff. You have probably never shared a drink with someone, or eatten anything off the counter.
3.) I grew up on a farm where were butched our very own meat, skinned and bled the hog/steer outside not 15ft from a feed floor full of sh*t covered hogs, and then hung the hog in the tree over night or the steer in the tree for a few days, then cut up and packaged the meat in the basement. I am 22 and still alive and never been sick from the home harvested meat which should be just crawlling with bacteria. Not to mention half the meat I eat is fresh caught fish or self shot deer. WIld Game oh its gotta be crawling too!!!
4.) This bacteria, like any bacteria can be and is killed with proper cooking temperatures and times. Hence the warnings that restaurants put in their menus about "undercooked meat".
5.) The resistant varieties or even bacteria alone only pose a threat when the masses give way to the hype, build it up, go to the doctor for every little cough and demand antibiotics. When parents are so concerend about everything in their childs life being spotless and everyone. Go out side eat some dirt and breathe some fresh air, it'll do wonders for you. It did for me and I can guarantee my kids will do the same.
6.) This article has to be backed by bleeding heart PETA liberals who want everyone to fore go meat and if you must then have organic, free range, this and that.
will admit "free range" is a neat idea because grass fed beef tastes better than cornfed beef but anymore with the corporations gobbling up land our free range days will be short lived.
7.) Don't eat yogurt if you're worried about bacteria, its crawling with it, also stay away from blue cheese because its moldy, as are those penicillin based antibiotics, oh and mushrooms thats a fungus.
Serioulsy get real people. Truth is we are surrounded by and covered with bacteria and germs and we are all going to die from cancer or a zombie apocapypse during a major meltdown of the earths core next year. Its all good. You guys can skip the meat, it will just leave more for myself and like minded level headed people.
Dang, now I'm hungry.
Cooking DOES destroy the bacteria, but when S. aureus is allowed to grow in foods, it produces the toxin that causes illness and the toxin produced is heat stable and may not be destroyed.
S. aureus is frequently part of human skin flora found in the nose and on skin and about 20% of the human population are long-term carriers. So, rather than raising panic over its presence in meat, more relevant would be information on the quantitative presence of toxin in food that reaches the table.
Your info is solid. :)
Yes, it is – but he failed to mention that S. aureus won't grow in anything that is held at proper temperaure. If the meat is held at 40F or less, then no toxin will be produced. (The upper limit isn't germane to this discussion.)
Mmmm....so that's what makes meat so tasty. Nothing like a little staph in your diet.
This isn't really recent news. This article is pure scaremongering. I don't care how resistant they are to antibiotics. This would all be oh-so-scary if we all decided to eat raw meat or meat that's been under heating lamps all day long. The fact is, cooking food adequately and handling it appropriately will kill staphylococci and prevent new cells from gaining a foothold on the food. Also, staph food poisoning is not really fatal to the general population (about 0.03% to the general public according to a 1984 paper by Holmberg and Blake)
You ignore the disease resistant bacteria this is producing.
After I watched Food Inc., I went vegetarian.
It boils down to this. In our intensive meat production industry, we feed grain to the livestock. Its something they are not evolved to metabolize. Further, due to the sheer number of animals, we let them stand in their own filth for months. That means they get infections.
True to form, our medical profession, which is excellent at treating symptoms (as opposed to causes of diseases), feeds them tons of antibiotics. As the infections either die out or fester, evolution makes sure that the germs that survive are the tough ones. So, when we eat meat produced this way, we get hit with a double whammy:
1. We consume leftover antibiotics in the animal tissue. Then we start get sensitized to those drugs (getting used to them). Which means that when we fall sick, most antibiotics either act weakly or not work at all. Which forces pharmaceutical industry to come up with stronger antibiotics, repeating the cycle.
2. We get a dose of drug resistant bacteria that may survive cooking (sometimes).
Our food production methods are dooming our very existence but our chase the dollar short sighted vision will not think outside of the narrow confines of a profit-loss statement.
In the food science and safety field, we collectively groan and facepalm every time someone refers to "Food Inc."...
Groan all you like. Eating improperly fed and diseased animals being kept alive on antibiotics with the infection rates shooting up ? No thanks. Take your propaganda for the food companies elsewhere.
Its not as if the rest of us are safe either. All those extra antibiotics get into the ground water and raise the risk for everyone.
Jerry, you don't even know enough to be dangerous. "Ignorance can be overcome with education, but there's no cure for stupid." Since you seem to be perfectly content with your 'education' from Food, Inc., then you fall fully into the category of stupid. Cattle have no problem eating or digesting grain. They can't live on 100% grain, but nobody – NOBODY – feeds them a 100% grain diet, regardless of what you believe or have been told. The animals are required to be off antibiotics for a prescribed period of time – depends on the antibiotic – before they can be slaughtered, so that there will be no 'residual' antibiotic in the meat. Why don't you try getting some information from a reliable source sometime?
Good thing i don't eat much meat.
- A
That's no suprise at all considering Agribusiness meat is loaded with antibiotics because of the filthy conditions the cattle are kept in before they are slaughtered. It's bred super bugs. Root cause: Overpopulation. If we weren't overpopulated there would be no need for our food to be raised in these conditions. Time for everyone to get serious about family size, everyone is still having 4-5 kids each, that's unsustainable and one more explosive generation will kill this planet past the point of no return.
Really? Where are you getting 4-5 kids each??
Im calling BS, way to secretly influence by putting an image of "Organic" meat in the picture CNN. You are nothing but corporate schills to the big companies. Also, ORGANIC MEAT DOESNT EXIST. Organic is reserved for everything but meat. Way to drop the ball CNN.
The point is: It is not normal for that bacteria to be found in meat. Even though it may not cause sickness in everyone who ingests it, it is happening because of a poorly regulated industry. I wouldn't feed my dog hamburger bought from a grocery store and I am a meat eating human.
Watch "Food Inc." All your concerns will be answered. Being from food sales, and also living in Springdale, AR for 10 years, the documentary is very accurate. 100%? Maybe, maybe not, but still very accurate.
And completely unbiased, with no 'agenda' by the producers, right? Can I interest you in some oceanfront property in Arizona?
I was eating beef jerky while reading this lol
Why is there a picture of a steak when the researchers only chicken, turkey, pork, and ground beef? A picture of Charlie Sheen would have been more appropriate.
So, is this the first study ever done? Maybe those are actually normal levels.
PS- It doesn't matter if you only buy organic, or eat locally grown, or whatever. These bacteria are mostly everywhere, even on precious organic cows. Just so you know, it doesn't mean you are avoiding any bacteria whatsoever, it means you are (most likely) avoiding the hormones, steroids, and other things given or fed to the animal.
A more complete article from the source of the research: http://www.tgen.org/news/index.cfm?newsid=1948
Key points:
Research was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts as part of The Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming, who seem to be fighting against the overuse of anitbiotics in farming. Seems reasonable to me. Spend a bit more money on organic food and you can help with this situation. Think of it as a donation to a cause, to help change things for the better.
"...DNA testing suggests that the food animals themselves were the major source of contamination."
"...Staph should be killed with proper cooking, it may still pose a risk to consumers through improper food handling and cross-contamination in the kitchen. "
OH MY GOD. S. aureus IS NOT ALWAYS A SOURCE OF INFECTION. It actually LIVES naturally in a small percentage of our population as a naturally occuring bacteria. I LOVE how articles everywhere distort these facts to scare people. There are strains of bacteria and some are harmful and some are not. S. aureus IS a potentially harmful bacteria to someone with a compromised immune system, and often is the source of a wound infection, but not always. There are MANY different kinds of bacteria that can and cannot harm us, all at once. S. aureus is usually the culprit causing strep throat in people, FYI. CNN, get your mother flipping facts straight and consult a microbiologist next time. Idiots.
The USDA and FDA are as on the ball as usual. Is there any point in any having a governmental department responsible for food safety? It appears to be a total waste of taxpayer money since they obviously don't do the job of keeping food safe anyway.
Many of you hit the nail on the head. It comes down to greed. Meat companies would rather grow their animals 4x faster than is natural. To do so, they feed them grains like corn mixtures and the rest of rendured cows. Cows aren't designed to eat either and get sick. To keep them alive long enough, we pump them full of steroids and antibiotics. You wonder why bacteria that we were able to kill 20 years ago are now so resistant? Well, up to 70% of all anti-biotics used are used on perfectly healthy cows so we can force them to consume corn, cow meat, and their own excriment. The meat industry harms the human body, it's inhumane towards animals, harms the envirnment, and is putting the quality of the entire human race in danger as every day there are more "super bugs" against which we have no antibiotics that would do any good. Thanks Meat Lobby!!
So just because 47 packages contained it, half of all US meat has staph?....
Would you please explain why you have a photo of certified organic meat with this 'article'? Certified organic cannot antibiotics and I don't see any evidence that certified organic meat was tested in that study. Looks pretty suspicious, if you ask me.
So you think lady Gaga is freaking out about now? LOL
Two words: Niman Ranch. Their hogs, lambs, and cattle all live the Life of Riley right up to the moment of dispatch. Open fields, open grazing, no confinement, and no antibiotics or hormones. Well worth the extra money. BTW – the pork in your burrito at Chipotle? Niman. Their uncured applewood smoked bacon, in my opinion, even beats Neuske's (which is a confinement operation). That's right, BEATS Neuske's, which is widely considered the Holy Grail of bacon.
We buy only grass fed organic free range beef and chicken from a fabulous farm in NH.
We eat beef 4 times a week for dinner, chicken once, fish once and pasta once.
I worry more about the fish than the beef and chicken...
You will -always- be able to find something in meat. That's been true since day one. That's why we COOK meat, dimwits.
The USDA inspects plants for safety, so we don't need to worry as long as the USDA inspection service is not cut during the budget battle.
Unfortunately the USDA regulations have been hugely influenced by agribusiness lobbyists and it is often their interests that get attention, not the consumers and certainly not the animals. As long as they allow animals to be kept in filthy overcrowded conditions, fed unnatural diets, and slaughtered and processed by the truckload in unsafe slaughterhouses, these issues will continue to occur.
My family only eats locally grown, naturally-raised/wild-raised (many people say grass-fed, but that is not really what they mean) meat these days. Same plan for our fruits and veggies, organic and locally-grown when possible. I think the concept of no antibiotics and no pesticides in/on our food is worth the slightly extra cost. As for the it-needs-to-be-sterile crowd, I have an immune system for a reason, so I respectfully disagree. I've been fortunate to have had the time to live wild myself, spending a few months each year living off the land. Few things taste as good as meat harvested just moments ago, right in the middle of the woods and cooked over an open fire (I can do raw, but it's not my favorite flavor or texture). Sanitary? Not by any means, but give me natural over processed any day.
So COOK the meat thoroughly, you whining sissies. How come years ago, before the paranoia and over-protective mothers carrying hand-sanitizers, you never saw the streets littered with bodies from these diseaeses? It's precisely why those anti-biotic resistant bacteria exist is because of overprotective, New Age parents who insist doctors give their kids anti-biotics at the slightest cold (which, btw, is not helped since colds and flus are caused by viruses). People, and especially children MUST be exposed to bacteria, it's what helps for a strong immune system so when they DO get hit by something really bad they are able to fight it.
Let the games begin for all global staff members whom distribut pestilence.
I agree. Meat sucks.
Yeah. Ellen is not a fan of the tube-steak.
Ellen prefers tuna.
Simple solution, folks. Buy meat from small, local and/or organic farms, where they take good care of the animals and treat them humanely. Small family farms rarely have the problems with contamination that the huge factory farms have. You'll get much better quality food, and support your local economy. It's worth the extra dollars.
Most of those farms send their animals to the same slaughterhouses the non-organic, inhumanely raised (and transported, and handled) animals go to. It's at the plants and at the packaging facilities (your local grocery store or a huge commercial facility) that contamination happens. Some markets rewrap meat when it goes on "sale" because it's approaching its sell-by date. Some stores marinate older meat and sell it as ready to cook. I don't eat meat. When I did eat it, I bought it at an independent grocery store with a reliable butcher (union, well-trained butchers). My local organic stores sold me spoiled meat several times. Spoiled organic meat from humane farms is still unwholesome meat.
That is true but often because the regulations make it very difficult to operate a small slaughterhouse. And who do you think has the power to influence the regulations? I have heard stories of ranchers who wanted to build a small slaughterhouse where they could process their own cows on their own land at a slower pace where they could be sure the animals were treated as humanely as possible and the meat was handled as safely as possible. They couldn't do it – even if they spent the money to build to code, the USDA wouldn't send out an inspector because they didn't have enough volume. We need more support for these types of places and for the meat they produce.
Some third world countries are rejecting our meat. Our inspection and regulation of meat is below third world standards. American meat is contaminated with sheet and Americans are so dumb the don't know they are eating sheet. Yes, cook your sheet before you eat it.
Did you sheet your pants?
Other countries have banned the import of American beef because of factory farming techniques these countries find unacceptable. The same thing is happening with GMO crops. It has nothing to do with inspections. It has to do with how we grow and raise our food.
Explains why I never have a Staph infection. I'm a meat inhaling sonofabitch and apparently have a resistance.
This just in – Staph and strep is found on most people's hands!
In later news – magical technology called cooking – a possible cure to bacteria tainted meat!
Seriously. It is like this article is written for people who have a tendency to just throw raw meat on a plate and start chomping away.
OK....so here's the media, again, working people up over something that really isn't at all news. Take a second to recall that meat has fed the world for at least a couple of years... Butchering facilities and household environments 200 years ago were probably a tad nasty by todays standards. One could, of course, argue that those people are all dead now, but...I highly suspect that their demise had a little something to do with old age.
Yep. That and staph is eliminated at about 120 degrees...so COOKING your food helps too. So unless you are one of those people who starts eating his/her filet mignon right out of the package...you should be fine.
"DUH that is why you cook meat before you eat it!!!"...............................
Most food poisoning is associated with restaurants. How do you cook your meat when you eat in a restaurant? – DUH!
Um... since when is 136 packages of chicken, turkey, pork, and ground beef purchased at 26 grocery stores in five cities around the country a good statistical representation of the United States? Someone needs to(re)take statistics and learn what a representative sample looks like.
66% of staph infections are actually caught in the hospital or doctor's offices, which is how I caught mine.
I think I could give up anything but meat. My only demand is that the animals that provide it are killed as humanely as possible.
Hopefully it will ease your mind to know that that is a federal requirement – with the exception of kosher and halal slaughter.
Meat and groceries aren't going to be sterile. They tried to push for gamma radiation sterilization of meat, but people's fear pushed it back.
People have been eating meat with some kind of bacterial load since they could hunt. You really think mammoth meat was aseptically processed? The reason why most people eat meat today is because it's a reliable food source.
However, gross contamination should be prevented in meat processing plants... and some people thought a DoA or FDA shutdown would be good.
Seriously, whomever thought that this was new news is seriously mistaken. while 50% of beef may have staph auerus, 100% of humans have it on their skin. It makes no sense to sterilize everything. This world was not meant to be sterile. The more things become sterile the more resistance that will emerge and the more problems we will have. Face it people without bacteria you wouldn't be alive. Just don't leave your meat out at room temperature for a long period of time and you have nothing to worry about toxin production.
Whoever write this article needs to do some fact checking. Staph has been resistant to penicillin almost as long as penicillin has existed as a medication. Not all antibiotics work for every bacteria. This is why there are doctors out there–they've been taught to pick the appropriate antibiotic for whatever specific infection a person has. Also, the article doesn't mention where the Staph was. Was it within the meat, or was it just on the package; and if so, was it the inside, the outside, where? (And maybe this was within the video feed, which doesn't work on this computer at work, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on that one.) Seriously, guys. You fact check the articles you write about Hollywood stars more than something on a scientific subject.
I think this author has a PETA/Vegan agenda.
Of course meat has bacteria. Humans carry bacteria everywhere all the time!
This is why you're supposed to keep meat COLD until you are ready to eat it, then cook it to a temperature HOT enough to kill the – wait for it – bacteria!
I eat meat 2 – 3 times a week because it is too expensive. We have to fill in with cheaper protein. The same goes for fresh vegies and fruit also. Too expensive.
So what do you eat the other 4 days in a week? Hotpockets?
To paraphrase Jim Gaffigan: The product development meeting leading up to the invention of Hot Pockets probably went something like this, "Hey, I have an idea. How 'bout we get a Pop Tart and fill it with nasty meat?"
Why is everyone so ignorant? I'm glad that I have a college education that taught me not to be terrified of everything the media spits out of its butthole, and to do my own research.
First of all, most of you would freak if you saw how much E.coli is EVERYWHERE. It has the potential to make you somewhat ill, and is one of the toughest prokaryotes. There is bactera everywhere on earth, since it and the Kingdom Archaea are the most populous and prolific living things. There is so much bacteria in us that it outnumbers all of our own bodies' cells 10 to 1. In Microbiology lab, I learned that a good bit of Staph. aureus is everywhere. It's on the surface of most things, now that it's evolved and is resistant to most cephalosporin and penicillin antibiotics. When trying to aseptically transfer Staph onto an agar plate, I accidentally spilled some of the liquid broth on my folder. Lysol and one paper towel later, and I was home free.
By the way, since some of you are freaking out so bad, you'd better go take a scalding shower RIGHT NOW. Because there is Staph. aures all over your body, about 25% of it. Oops, betcha didn't know that. If you did some research, of course you'd know. But as is the case with modern society, we don't like to think for ourselves, no one goes into science disciplines anymore. It's also inside 30% of the population's nose.
If you also did research, you'd learn the side effects of eating staph are less than E.coli, or any other food poisoning bacterias. You have mostly diarrhea, and the symptoms of most are gone within 8-12 hours.
People make the second mistake if disinfecting with bleach. NaClO is not that good at killing Staph or flu. You MUST use Lysol, we discovered out of 5 household cleaners, it killed most everything.
Also, industrial farming [not factory. Know proper vocab if you want to make a point] has nothing to do with accelerating the resistance of Staph. There isn't even a vaccine us veterinarians give to cattle for it, unless they have been infected through something like mastitis, which is caused by staph. Farmers have nothing to do with this. In fact, it's probably more populous in the organic, non-sterile farmers due to the environment, especially non-industrial dairy, which can be dangerous to some people. It's been discovered by scientists in recent years that a sterile, concrete dairy parlor is best for milking. It gives less stress and infection to the cows/heifers, and makes it less dangerous to employees.
Most of y'all need to go back to college or browse wiki a bit. Even wiki can teach you some science. Use items at your disposal. Constantly educated yourself on all subject matters so you don't appear a gullible fool believing everything you are told.
And CNN, stop freakin trying to panic the ignorant masses. It will come back and bite you all in the butt later on. You'll become the equivalent of Fox News as far as accurate, non-biased reporting goes
.
"glad that I have a college education that taught me not to be terrified of everything the media spits out of its butthole, and to do my own research." Really? You need a college education to know that? You're one of those that thinks the sun rises and sets out of your @sshole, aren't you?
Not really. I'm just saying that I have a double major in Animal Sciences and Microbiology. I would not have known most of the stuff I do without a decent education, and teachers pressuring me to think for myself. I'm trying to get people to actually look around for legitimate sources, especially when it comes to things dealing with one's livelyhood, like the food industry.
Most of which is cited by sympathetic vegans [not all vegans. I like vegas, just not ones who have screamed at me and threatened me for simply working in a slaughterhouse. Thankfully I'm no longer aquainted with those two individuals], is outdated by almost 25 years, and is innacurate. The Land-o-Lakes butter dairy farm crap really got my panties in a twist because I've been to that farm before, and it looked nothing like the video on youtube, which led you to believe these cattle lived in small pens surrounded by their own filth. That was not the case. When not being milked, most were out to pasture, then came to the parlor for their daily milking and udder checkups. The infant cattle were hand-raised, the males shipped off to someone certified to deal with them [Dairy cattle bulls have killed more people than any other livestock animal combined. Might be a result of hand raising], and the facilities clean.
Why don't you actually visit a cattle farm some day? Or perhaps take a tour of the CDC in Atlanta. I know they offer sterile tours to the public of specific portions.
Sorry if I sounded pretentious, but I'm sick of the attitude people are taking as far as the food industry. No one knows what really goes on, and I think that's partially us ag people's fault. But that's changing. You can find webcams online that show 24/7 coverage of industrial farms. Google it. More farms should do this.
Things just piss me off. Like someone saying they had grass-fed pigs. Pigs are monogastrics like us and, therefore, cannot digest grass. Things like that are what make me sometimes type without thinking about my syntax, and thus I sound arrogant and pretentious. Sorry.
Being a Food Scientist I have to agree 100% with this post. I really with more people would read this before posting their vast misunderstanding of microbes. I know that not everyone went to school and studied this kind of stuff because it may not have been interesting to you so i'm not trying to bash anyone's ignorance (i said ignorance not stupudity). Read HerpDerp's post and learn, he is correct.
Ah, yet another vet student trying to be worldly. Herpy, you think you are full of knowledge but you are largely full of sht, you just don't know it yet. Try to remember that you are merely a student of the world, not the master. I'm an animal science prof and rural county vet and I still learn things almost every day. You are not smarter than everyone, in fact, your ignorance is what I hear most when you write about your "expertise". Fear not, your pompous attitude will fade in time or some farmer will actually beat it out of you. Every year I encounter fresh shiny faces like yours under the impression that they know so much more than they actually do, trying to tell us old vet vets how the world works. A few years in the real world later and the good ones return with "I thought I knew everything but discovered I knew nothing". Stay quiet youngster, arrogance isn't the same as experience.
So why don't you tell us what he wrote that is so wrong, o enlightened one? You say he's full of sht, but you don't point out one thing he wrote that is in error. I can't vouch for 100% of it, but it looks pretty much dead-on to me, and I've been at this food science/meat science game for over 25 years.
Lobbyists have gutted the USDA. They used to have the right to shut down dirty plants, not any more. The big meat packers have merged so much that shutting them down will hurt supply. The largest packers also hire the most illegals ever according to food inc.
Funny. I work for one of the largest cow-calf producers in the southeast for my internship, and we did not have underqualified, illegal immigrants working for us. The USDA would shut us down for having not properly trained individuals. Also, the abattoir in the slaughterhouse has to have operators with specifically approved FDA training. Otherwise you could end up slaughtering animals inhumanely and possibly killing yourself with the machinery.
Farming livestock cannot be done by ignorant, uneducated people. Did you know most large farms are ran by a farmer that has a 4 year agriculture degree?
Once again, someone making claims about something they know nothing about. Us in the ag industry have been quiet recently because all the lobbying niche farmers scream over us and address portions of the population that think they are knowledge-saavy. We need to be more assertive, and show how much the ag industry has evolved for the better of both the consumer and the animal in the past 20 years. Most of it the result of Colorado St University, Auburn University, and Universitat da Hoenheim in Germany. Any farming process that has those names attached to it is legit, and using ever evolving methods from these top universities.
Thorough cooking and then digestive acids will kill any bacteria found on meat. It is the raw handling mistakes that expose people to the dangerous cross contamination from staph.
Ames, you're on the right track, but there's a little something wrong with your train. Digestive acids will not kill all bacteria – salmonella being a prime example. Old Sal frequently winds up colonizing the gut and pumping out toxins that make you sick; this is a classic case of a "food infection" as opposed to a "food intoxication" in which you ingest the toxin that sickens you.
So why does CNN include a picture of beef with a certified organic sticker on it? Why didn't CNN report all the details of the study such as comments by the researching like this: The study points a finger at, “densely-stocked industrial farms, where food animals are steadily fed low doses of antibiotics... ideal breeding grounds for drug-resistant bacteria that move from animals to humans.”
Please CNN, tell us why you choose to mislead people?
Foodborne pathogens, antibiotics, hormones, and other concerns are the reason that I now raise my own lamb, chicken, beef, and pork. Yup, I keep animals and I butcher them. They are lower in fat and cholesterol because they are grass-fed instead of grain-fed, and I know exactly what they have been exposed to.
For people that don't have this option, I recommend looking for a local farmer that sells shares of meat animals, or does custom processing. They're out there. You just have to spend a bit more time hunting. And they're not always much more expensive than the JUNK you are getting in the grocery store.
For example, you might pay a bit more per pound for pastured chicken than for the birds at the grocery store, but the pastured chickens are not likely to be injected with water, so the price difference is less than it seems.
I've been steak for my entire life. Clearly there must be some resistance to it in my system!
i selected other. I get meat from a reap butcher. I get USDA Prime, grass fed AND finished organic meat. As an amateur chef i make sure none of it goes to waste. That is why i can afford 27$ per pound beef. Also, i rarely eat beef as i am in college and the food service beef is scary stuff as you well know. Even when at home i eat meat no more than 3 times a month
THIS JUST IN! FDA ANNOUNCES ALL KNOWN FOOD IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH! POPULATION URGED TO BECOME AIR-ETERIANS! Okay, are we all through panicking now? Seriously... choose your food (meat or whatever) from a trusted source, prepare it carefully, and enjoy. It seems like every day, something or other is found to be dangerous or unsafe... of course, that's usually if ingested in larger quantities than any normal human would ever accomplish. Of course no one wants to eat something that's really going to cause illness, but the fearmongering has gotten out of hand. I'm going to go home and cook my husband & me a nice juicy steak, and not worry about it.
Another WIN!
But what about the air born pollutants? acid rain? LOL
JUST doing the jobs Americans won't do,oh,I don't blame the aztec and mayan descendents,they only have a slave education from the spanish rulers.And then they laugh at us as all the poor people come here in a co-ordinated invasion,based on a lie.Please wash hands after dumping,and learn what that rolled paper does.
Vegetarians that stay away from meat (because they don't know how to cook it??) turn a blind eye to all the E. Coli tainted spinach and lettuce they eat, lol.
e.coli is one issue. the number stuff growing on meat is probably in the millions
The problem isn't that it's got bacteria, the problem is with the specific bacteria it has. Staf isn't supposed to be in meat. It's there because of the factory meat plants unclean conditions. More importantly is that it's antibiotic resistant strains so if you get sick standard antibiotics won't help. This is because the factory meat houses pump their animals full of antibiotics to make up for the filthy conditions they live in. This creates resistance in the antibiotics.
This is not really that surprising to me anyway. Given the conditions that our animals are raised in, I don't feel that this is that crazy (watch Food Inc. and you'll know what I mean). I try to eat a more plant-based diet anyways because it is much more sustainable for our planet.
Silly wabbit.. Trix are for kids!
I just love all of the people on here trumpeting the "Certified Organic" label. Don't you wingnuts realize that "Certified Organic" means NOTHING? Who certifies this? A local farmer? A regional co-op? Here's a clue people... THERE IS NO FEDERAL GUIDELINES OR OFFICIAL CONTROL OF THE USE OF THE 'CERTIFIED ORGANIC" LABEL! What one farmer considers organic is not necessarily what the next farmer does, unless they got together (co-op) and decided amongst themselves. One farm might say "NO pesticides at all" while the next says "Only natural pesticides!". The first farmer will say that the second farmer's goods are not "organic".
.
I know that every other libtard is going to jump all over this screaming how THEIR organic stuff is truly certified, but I'll break it to you all gently. It isn't. Until the FDA comes out with a certification process then the only thing that "certified organic" means is that "We tried to do it a bit better than the other guys".
.
The unfortunate truth of it is though that ANY knucklehead can slap that sticker on their product with no, nada, zip, zilch, ZERO repurcussion outside of their local market of people who know better. Also... who is to say that your local market just isnt lying to you anyway? Ever wonder why that "organic" farm's produce is so big and lush? Yeppers... it's called fertilizer. Oh but they only use organic fertilizer! Poop is still poop... unregulated poop... nasty bacteria riddles poop.
WIN!
There is a "certified organic" farmer near my house – while I've never seen him spray or anything like that, the field right next to his does spray chemicals. Hello – air carries chemicals on to the "organic" farm, hence rendering their products no longer "organic", yet people still pay an arm and leg for their produce. ROFLMAO
OMG have you seen how poorly they treat Artichokes. They just rip there hearts right out of the ground. Same with lettuce and other veggies. Fight for veggies rights Eat Meat. Save the veggies they deserve to live to !!
Wow, a whole 126 packages of meat?
In other news, in a study of 3 scientists, other scientists found that statistical data could be misleading due to the laziness of the scientists accumulating data.
Another CNN fear-mongering article which also brings the vegans, PETA nuts, and Chicken Littles out of the woodwork.
Maybe they'll have spinach with a healthy dose of e-coli for dinner tonight :) Bacteria has been on all food since the beginning of time. Trouble is, we live in such sterile environments, most people can't fight them off anymore. Add a few incomplete antibiotic regimens, sanitizers to torture the poor bacteria and a host of other products designed to keep your environment pure and microscopic pest free then woot woot! Got yourself a recipe for a very fragile human being who will always require drugs to survive – and more and more frequently unable to reproduce (which is just fine in some cases).
S. aureus is also commonly found on human skin. Should we start banning skin? Morons...
Fresh beef does not melt in your mouth. You can figure that one out surely.
Dont you people at CNN ever have any good news- every fricken day some bad news and more bad news- you cant eat anything anymore, the gas prices are up the uazzoo. Obama is a retard- boner is a tanned dork, most repubicans are imbeciles. Its all bad.
You have named most categories,where do you fit in?
Make you wonder how humans survived long enough to get stupid. I would worry more about the growth hormones that are making a chicken fat and in turn making the consumer fat.Even your corn does not even resemble the corn it was engineered from.Beef is all raised with growth hormones. Don't blame Mc Donalds.
OMG, I just didn't realize the sky was falling. Thanks CNN, I'll never look at a rare steak the same way again (LOL)
Eat me.
I hope Obamacare works as well as the FDA does!
Grass fed one cow at a time meat from Turkana Farms. Killed and frozen on the same day. From them to me. No factories, no supermarkets, no 1000 mile truck rides etc
I doubt seriously that the animals are killed and frozen on the same day. Animals have to be allowed to go through rigor mortis prior to cutting, or else there will be EXTREME problems with the tenderness of the meat. The carcass IS going to go through rigor, one way or the other. It it's all ground, then it's not that big a deal. If it's not ground, and the muscles are separated from the bone and frozen prior to going through rigor, they're going to go through rigor when they thaw (it's called "thaw rigor"). Now imagine a tightly stretched rubber band (the muscle), which has a tremendous ability to contract, and release it from what is keeping it stretched. This is what happen to a muscle going through thaw rigor, and it will be as tough as the sole of a tennis shoe.
That is why fire was necessary. Enough heat on the meat and clean hands problem solved.
There is an excellent disinfectant you can use on meat. It's called fire.
If it's all so natural and a matter of course that there are Staph on meat, how come then that 53% of the tested meat is free of the bacteria?
And they say second hand smoke kills, Now look at the levels of food and water that kills.. I just say we 're all not safe.. Don ' t be fooled, please do your reseach, before you talk about the next thing that's harmful to you...
I just don't eat raw meats. Cook hamburgers, pork, chicken all the way through.
Obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and the army of medications many Americans have to take every day, hasn't made many of them release the burger, doubt Staph will.
The way food is manufactured in this country is very disturbing to me. It doesn't impress me as being very clean, safe or wholesome. After the first few rounds of contaminated food being recalled several years ago, we made the decision to focus on producing as much of our own food as possible. Last year we raised 80% of our meat (chicken, goat, rabbit, & pork) and almost all our vegetables. This year we're on target to raise 90% of our meat. I hope I never have to go back to being completely reliant on manufactured food again. I just don't trust this country's food system anymore. At this point It's obvious to me that manufacturer's profits are far more important to the food industries and the government than my family's well being.
We raise our own pastured heritage poultry and eggs the old fashioned way without added growth promoters, chemicals, drugs or antibiotics. There is always bacteria in ALL food and that is why it should be prepared properly. Cook your meat, and wash your veggies. Our bodies have some resistance to these bacteria and the key is to not overload ourselves with it. We cannot live in an antiseptic plastic bubble!
And why the heck is there a picture of a steak in this article? the only way you're going to get staph or e coli from beef is if the excrement is GROUND into the meat, and then not cooked to proper internal temperature. A steak is not ground, and therefore has not had bacteria ground into it.
What a pathetic attempt at disguising an editorial as news.
1) Picture clears shows an "Organic" sticker which has nothing to do with the article content which is about all meat (organically raised meet is a tiny portion of the total).
2) There are just as many deadly diseases found in vegetables, eggs, etc.
3) The real news is that excessive use of ANTIBIOTICS in live stock is what caused the antibiotic resistance of the staph strains found.
Loose the pathetic "this misleading editorial brought to you by the Vegan/Chemical Industry/Feedlot consortiums" attitude and try and write and present real news instead of slanted editorials and infomercials.
Breaking Headline News – 100% of all people die! Studies show that these people all breathe air and eat food. Health organizations calling for government legislation.
Folks, food is not sterile. Staph aureus is not some kind of dangerous pathogen that we need to be scared of. It is present all over the place. Somewhere around 30% of the population has Staph aureus on their skin normally. You can find it on your countertops, on utensils, just about anywhere. It is most dangerous in people with an impaired immune system, and is usually infects open wounds or lesions. Unless you plan on putting that slab of raw beef on your open cuts, it just isn't a big deal.
Of course the meat is tainted: the slaughterhouse lines move so quickly the workers don't have the time to take reasonable sanitation or safety precautions. They cut themselves and bleed on the meat all the time, or else they don't have time to sterilize their equipment after, say, a bowel is punctured. You solve this problem by buying beef directly from a producer and having an independent processing house cut it up. This costs more than commercial meat because it takes more labor, but the production is done safely and cleanly, and compared to the price of an ER visit from eating commercial food, it's not that expensive.
this is ridiculous, people are still saying that they dont care and they will eat the meat.!? the U.S, has become a nation of sheep.
You can eat a steak rare because only the surface of the meat cut with a knife and exposed to air grows bacteria. Once you cook the outside it's fine to eat. Which is why ground beef needs to be fully cooked. Also beef is a much cleaner meat to handle versus chicken and the dirtiest of all pork.
Chuck Norris roundhouses the bacteria out of his meat before eating it.
I would feel safer about meat consumption, if it were irradiated.
I buy all my meat organically which means it doesn't contain the antibiotics and hormones which encourage the staph. This is also one of the reasons why the amount of staph infections and deaths have increased in America. In other countries they are not allowed to feed this type of meat to it's citizens.
I seriously cannot believe what I am reading – you think that an ANTI-BIOTIC is what causes the bacteria to grow?!?! You dont have to be a scientist to know what the word means – it KEEPS bacteria from growing. The article was not talking about organic vs conventional. Its talking about ALL meat – organic included. If anything antibiotic-free meat will have MORE types of bacteria growing on them – including the antibiotic resistant strains.
Hormones encourage the staph, huh? I wish they had taught me this in the course of some of my microbiology or biochemistry classes. Guess they just forgot and left that detail out, since I'm sure you know more about this subject than they do.
This is what happens when the lobbyists scream about "big brother" and the wingnuts do everything possible to underfund and understaff the regulatory agencies, both federal and state.
MEAT RAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!
Between the DEET covered imported produce, the salad bags full of salmonella & ecoli, this really doesnt come as a shock. Someone is NOT doing their job which leaves me to wonder where are all our tax dollars going?! :(
"The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety"
Time to get a green house and grow your own gardens and being self dependent again. NOTHING seems regulated anymore.
So, if you eat meat, you will get staph. If you eat vegetables and peanuts, you will get e-coli. Eggs – salmonella.... What about the grains. What awful infections will we get from them?
Chuck Norris is immune to everything. You should be like Chuck Norris.
What a weird question. Asking consumers if they believe the meat they are buying worries them. Are you trying to trigger some kind of panic? If so, I'd like to see you qualify this opinion.
I have gone to enirely locally grown and processed meat – grass fed/ free range. yet it is more expensive. but I know my farmer and I know the meat's origin. I figure it is healtier mor the animal and for me and I don't have to worry about additives, and the diseases of the feedlot.
i love meat and i love rare steaks even more! i wont stop eating them but this dose concerne me. this maybe the reason i had a staph infection inside my salivary gland.
Yes meat has bacteria. The article is about a specific, and dangerous bacteria, staph. People do get sick from it all the time, even in hospitals. All you idiots who don't care, just shut up rather than trying to spread your ignorance. Industrial food production has a lot of flaws and is unsustainable and unhealthy. If you don't care, that's your choice, but it doesn't prove that there aren't real issues to sort out. Go back to your video games and sports programming and leave the thinking to the rest of us.
I don't think this is a terrible article, I think people need to wake up to the fact that eating meat that is rare or not fully cook nomatter how tender it is....is extremely harmful and dangerous as bacteria can and will harm you. Eat as you like, but be educated and informed on the risks your taking.
I cook it to recommended temperatures. My family has never been sickened in all of the years that I have been cooking. It seems ironic to me that they have frequently been sickened by non-meat, meat subsitutes in fast-food restaurants but never by a home-cooked meal made with store-bought meat.
Now the Repubs want to cut the FDA...Probably lots more sickness will result.
not worried.... better than radioactive shellfish, crab, and fish stock from the northern pacific.
Let us (lettuce) just eat fruit and veggies!!!!
cnn is an organization that blows up their news stories to draw interest for news that is typically uninteresting...case and point "radiation found in US milk that is 5000 times higher than typical levels"...turns out that the 5000 times more was still hundreds of thousands of time less than what is considered potentially harmful...all of these news organizations overplay these news stories so much and manipulate headlines to draw viewers...that's the problem with "for profit" media...it might a well be a damn reality show..."bacteria found in nearly half of U.S. meat" bacteria is everywhere....if this were a serious problem, tons of meat would be pulled from the stores...cnn, fox news, msnbc...you all suck the end
My cow is a vegetarian.
Oh, and as for "cookit good" with the contamination in produce: yep. Fertilizer is guess what? It may not even be properly aged fertilizer which is safer, but human waste in some cases coming into direct contact with crops. (And now you know why traditional asian cuisines often either cooks the veggies or ferments the heck out of them with salt and the GOOD bacteria.)
If you can't bear to think of eating anything – animal or vegetable – that may well be contaminated, you'd better not inform yourself on agricultural practices.
A few drops of bleach in a BIG plastic tub of water (like the kind that fits in sinks for washing dishes) will help a lot when there's concern that rinsing the fruits and veggies may not be enough. But I'm not big on going nuts with the disinfecting because, A; that's how we breed those supergerms, by being super-sterile (no, it's not just a hospital problem anymore); and B: there are arguments that the reason so many of today's kids have deathly peanut or other food allergies, severe asthma, etc. is because we are TOO clean/sterile in our environments, and that young children in particular really do have a recommended daily requirement of dirt and ick to build up their immune systems. We have data going back to the 1940s that suggests that it's a quantifiable health risk to grow up in the proverbial plastic bubble.
Pass the A-1
I'm worried. I'm very worried. I'll have to stop smoking meat in my crack pipe and inhaling it.
"I was standing outside, smoking some meat..."
"I'm sorry, you were smoking some meat?"
"Yes, there wasn't a cigar store in the neighborhood."
Wonder what would happen if they tested Halal meat??
wait til PETA gets their hands on this one.
Hot naked models talking about avoiding staph infections.
That's all we need....
You should be arrested for voliating our food libel laws!
That's what cooking is for.
Is this in part due to having bigger meat processing plants? If the plant(s) gets contaminated, then 1,000's of packages are contaminated.
Is it that the FDA is not controlling these large companies?
I remember hearing many other countries don't buy U.S. meats because they, (thoses countries), have found contamination in those meats, including copper. Why have I not heard the FDA addressing this issue?
Or is it that we have just not looked for it before?
It's no secret that a lot of the really serious cases of meat contamination sources to pre-ground beef. You aren't just eating one cow, you're being potentially contaminated by every cut of beef that was processed through that grinder. Get a cheap grinder or a decent food processor and process that chuck roast at home, and you'll be putting your household at much less risk. Don't mean to go all PSA here, but it's a little thing you can do to make it a lot safer to eat meat, and even have the burger a bit on the rare side without too much worry.
I wonder what the bacteria count looks like on Sushi and Sashimi.
Delicious!
To all of you that said they are glad they are vegans...guess what? The bacteria and other nasty things are on vegetables as well. It is even worse because most vegetables are eaten raw or simply rinsed off with water. That goes for fruits to.
Or they wash their veggies and fruit in a chemical bath. Sorry, their logic just doesn't make sense to me.
I'll take a "nice" organic salad with a side of insect and bird poop please. LOL
It kills 99.999% of germs.
i always buy my meat from a local butcher shop, that way i know their meat is safer and not injected with weird chemicals and preservatives.
I'm sorry to say, but most butcher shops have the same meat that is in the tiny packages at the corner store. They just buy it and repackage it, or buy larger cuts, and custom cut it for you. But it usually all comes from the same processing plant.
It's sad that the local butcher doesn't know what to do with a side of beef anymore. That was once an art unto itself. Now, most butchers wouldn't know how to break down anything that's not in a cardboard box. :(
That may be true where you live, but please don't equate that with everywhere in America. Plenty of butchers still exist the "old way".
That's why you cook it, only fools eat it raw.
The bacteria found in meat are also found on the hands you use to pick up your cheeseburger. The meat is not "contaminated." It is normal. This article is ridiculous. The segment on the station was just as absurd implying that this could cause soft tissue infections and pneumonia. I mean... I guess that it is possible... if you rubbed the meat into a deep, open wound or tried to literally inhale it. However, if that were the case, I think you'd probably have bigger problems than that. Properly store and cook your meat and you should have no problems. Does anyone really think that all of a sudden, meat has been contaminated? Please, this has been going on ever since you were a kid and did you develop any of these problems?
GO VEG!!!!
...That's what she said...
Also, if you read through the article you come across this: "This sample size wasn't large enough to arrive at an accurate estimate of its prevalence in meat nationwide, according to the study." 136 packages of meat from 26 stores does not represent enough statical data to even come close to making an accurate study. Also, see above on the existence of bacteria in the world around us...what do we have immune systems for anyways?
With fuel and grain prices out of control under this administration, nobody will be able to afford meat anyway. The plan is similar to what they are doing with cigarettes etc., price them out of the market for most people so they will turn into Vegans that don't smoke and drive electric cars. Eat more green beans instead. Big Brother says it's for your own good... progressive social engineering.
Just one more reason to become a vegetarian.
This is TERRIBLE. Concerns everyone that eats meat.
I don't buy meat or poultry that is commercially raised. I only purchase local, grass-fed and finished meats. And, this is exactly the reason why – our food chain is contaminated!
Go to a slaughter house then decide if meat products grown in giant cooperate animal farms are good for your body. It's a freak show with animals suffering every day of their existence.
I eat my meat from a local meat shop! GOOOO MEAT!
Lots of ignorance here. Is basic biology no longer required in American high schools?
I think they found bacteria on mars as well as at the deep sea bottom in the hottest underwater geysers extreme conditions. If they eradicated bacteria from cows and other meat all the animals would die. Im more worried about extinction of the animals we shouldnt be weakening them they might be wiped out and the carrencapacity of the earth will collapse like mars leaving only reddish dust rock and fossils of bacteria.
Other: I raise my own organic meat.
doesn't eat vagina. Think about that one for a while ladies. Me, I loooooove meat. I could eat it all day.
Missing information from this article..
1) Are the levels any higher than previous tests over the years?
2) Are the levels at a range different from what we find in the enviroemnt, these types of bacteria, etc are everywhere, just not always at the levels needed to cause illness. Remember when the big deal was made about certain levels of disease carrying bacteria etc being found on planes and it took the scientists to remind us these "germs" are everywhere and the levels on planes are not any higher than they are in "nature"
While these findings maybe correct, I think if you handle your meat correctly and cook it well, you won't have problems. Cooking meat will also kill bacteria and also you do have to follow the standard sanitary guidelines and be very careful with raw meat. I learned those techniques as teenager in 4-H and my family and I have never been sick from meat – ever. Also sampling can be subject to error and doesn't necessarily mean that a particular store has contaminated groceries. People need to be careful of scare tactics and an all or nothing mentality. Yes, raw meat needs be handled carefully and cooked well before eating, but that doesn't mean it is unhealthy to eat meat. Humans need the protein in meat and my family will continue top eat it.
And this is why you cook meat before eating it, yes?
Completely irresponsible reporting, but I'd expect no less from CNN. Nowhere in the article does it mention that cooking the meat kills the bacteria, and that you should never eat raw meat – period. Duh.
I do eat raw meat and fish on occasion- Carpaccio, sushi, steak tartare... but I know the risks when I do so, and only do so from restaurants that I trust.
And if I get unlucky and have to process more bacteria... I knew what I was doing in advance.
...said it best... "You know when I wash my hands? When I have s*** on them."
Come on – start up with your BS logic again. Where did you go?
Hmm, I wonder if cooking and eating Liberals has the same risk.
Only the ones infected with Republicanism. it is a deadly disease.
The latest budget deal cut FDA funding – the chief agency that responsible for meat inspection. Do not believe the GOP big lie: All the budget cuts do not represent wasteful spending. We will see a lower standard of living because of these budget cuts; so the wealthy and coporations can pay less taxes. What do you want? More FDA meat inspectors or give more money to Paris Hilton and General Electric?
100% wrong there, John. The FDA has no responsibility for "meat" inspection whatsoever. That is the responsibility of the USDA, through the FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service). But thanks for playing.
I'm giving up meat because 90% of it is from Senator Kyl's Bull$
You're suppose to post "Not intended to be a factual statement"
of course it has bacteria, all carcasses and living creatures do!!! It has resistant bacteria thanks to corporate farming practices, rinse it well, cook it thru, you should be fine, oh and disinfect contaminated surfaces and wash your hands, don't get it on open wounds.
We are fortunate to have our own cattle and have fresh meat year round that we have butchered. So I know where the meat is coming from.
Hey, Boka, I also got news for you. I live in an area with many local farms and farmers markets. I went to school with their children and worked with their farmhands, and guess what? They spray and package and preserve their crops using the same methods and materials the big companies use. Why? Because it's cheap, effective, and not harmful. Buying local is sometimes cheaper, even, which is why I do so on occassion with my fruits and vegetables. However, the only benefit is it's fresher most of the time, so buying local isn't always the answer, especially if you live in a city or area that doesn't have a lot of farms.
very few small farms have to feed their livestock antibiotics because they keep the animals so tightly confined they stand in their own feces all the time, that is what many of the bigger ones do.
Staph aureus is just about everywhere. Hospital floors, locker rooms...heck, there's probably some of it on your skin right now. It's also not particularly pathogenic by ingestion. It's most dangerous to the immunocompromised or already ill, or to those with open sores or cuts. So don't rub raw meat in your wounds, cook it to the proper temperature, like you would anyway, and stop with the fear tactics CNN.
Of course. Bacteria is oldest life form on earth. It therefore has the upperhand on adapting to survive.
CNN's is mainstream media. Mainstream media has a vested interest in supporting main stream commercial practises. However, the public values are changing and the trend is moving toward organic. Major media says the same fear tactics about rawmilk. The attempt is to put a halt to the changing trend.
Eat the bacteria people! If it doesn't kill you, which it usually doesn't, It's good for you and your immune system. Stop being afraid of F****** everything.
I think too many people are focused on an old issue. I am unfortunate in having NO inmune systen due to having two auto-immune diseases and yet I do not buy all of these new antibacterial products! We would NEVER build up an immunity 2 anything, as was intended by using these, especially our kids. I had someone who knew I had no immunity come into my home and they never told me they had MRSA! Now I have to live with another horrible disease. I had green pus, blood, you name it covering my chest and no idfa why until my labs came bk with 4 plur MRSA! Nice, huh?
Did the person know they had MRSA. Over half the population is colonized with MRSA in their nasal passages. It is a very common bacteria. Unless someone has an outbreak of MRSA in say a wound there is no way to know if you are colonized or not. It only causes problems for people who are immune compromised or if it enters a wound.
And if you cook the meat properly the bacteria dies, all of it! Is that genious or what??
Or what. You spelled genius* wrong.
But you don't get rid of the toxins created by the bacteria...
Bacteria of all sorts is always on meat. Ever wondered why we keep meat cold or frozen? The reason meat doesn't last forever is that it is decaying due to ever increasing numbers of bacteria.
And you put that into your body? That's not to smart. Actually that sounds insane.
There was a vegetarian restaurant in town where I live. It got temporarily shut down after several people got food poisoning there. While it was shut down, it was discovered the restaurant was using slave labor. They had brought over some illegal immigrants from China through Canada into Michigan to cook and serve at the restaurant. At night, they were locked in the back of the restaurant so they couldn't try to run. The owners were busted, and the restaurant closed. I always wonder as well, how much of that rice, soy, tofu, and other Asian "vegan" foods are the result of slave labor in the fields of China and Southeast Asia. Keep that in mind while enjoying your veggie burger and soy shake.
@Boka, enjoy that next tasty meal of glass, plastic, metal and other non-perishables...
Ryan in Michigan. I'm not sure how that is relevant to the conversation. It would be relevant for dirty resteraunts conversation. I would never eat a veggie berger. That sounds gross. And soy is terrible for the hormones. Don't drink or eat soy products either.
Even vegetables can have high concentrations of bacteria. Think back Boka....remember the spinach recall, tomato recall, peanutbutter recall? And more too numerous to count!
Bacteria is also what makes vegetable matter decay. What's your point?
Wash your hands and prep surfaces, cook the meat properly for it's type... that's all.
There's bacteria everywhere. There's fungus and mold. There's dust. There's all sorts of other contaminants in the air, water, soil... they are EVERYWHERE. Sometimes it's small doses, sometimes larger.
This is why we have immune systems. This is why we prepare and cook food (and even uncooked food, like salads, still require washing) and do so before the food spoils (at least we have a better understanding of that process now). This is why we do research into the places we purchase our food from and make informed decisions.
If you were informed then you would know not to eat meat. That stuff will kill you. After all it's rotting flesh.
Rotting flesh? Pull your head out of your @ss.
Here's some information for you- everything is rotting if you look at it. The moment you pull a vegetable out of the ground (and sometimes before if you're not harvesting at the right time), it begins to decay on a cellular level. There are some prepared dishes that take advantage of this process, like kimchi, sauerkraut, and natto... which are all *vegan* dishes.
Meat that is packaged and handled properly is no more rotten than the open boxes of vegetables and fruit in the produce aisle.
So why do you think they are making it illegal to film on or near a farm in Iowa and Florida now? There is currently a monopoly on the food distribution now and corp america is killing us with either food, pharmaceuticals or dumping oil into our waters, when is going to end, no one gives a darn and change will never come, voluntarily anyway, so we wait, we wait for mother naure to wipe our sorry a$$es out, it will happen, it has before and will again. Its happening now, before your very eyes.
I am still eating meat, I just make sure it is properly cooked so that the bacteria is neutralized, if there is any. If you properly cook your meat to a specific temperature this is not an issue anyway. Sometimes I am blown away by the ignorance of people.
WIN!
Or you can not eat meat at all and remove any doubt. Stay healthy and live long with a Vegan diet.
Wow, you're so uneducated it makes me wonder how or if you ever graduated high school. If we killed all the Native Americans, why are they still here? Obviously, we didn't kill them all, or most, or even half of them. Think before you post.
Vegan – Native American slang term for bad hunter.
I love it! Too funny!
It's a good thing white man killed all the Native americans and took their land.
Land which we now use to raise corn, mostly. Seriously, go make yourself a nice lettuce wrap.
It's a bad thing some white men bred indiscriminately with family members to bring YOU forth...
Just run the packaged meat thru a nuclear sterilizer. That should zap those nasty bacteria and fungi. However will that make it all taste like canned Vienna sausages?
Hey, guess what! 100% of the cheese in America has bacteria in it!
Don't eat cheese. Humans are not designed to process that stuff. your stomach doesn't know what to do with that crap.
Humans weren't "designed" to eat cheese? OK... that's logical.
Boka, you really are quite funny—in a nonsensical, illogical, "whatever" sort of way. Cheese is a perfectly healthy food. Heck, even the moon is made of it.
Vegan will help you appreiciate your life and the people around you better.
Can't prove that by anything you've posted here.
YOU posted, "It's a good thing white man killed all the Native americans and took their land."
How is that appreciating the people around you? Ignorant twit.
Who is ignorant? Your are ignorant. You do not have abstract thought. That is why your life is so hard. That is why you still believe in superstisions. And that is why you are still a sheep following the heard. You eat meat because everyone else does. You seem ignorant.
No, we eat meat because it's good for you. Protein is necessary for brain function and bodily development. Sure, you can get some from beans and legumes, but meat just tastes so damned good.
Everyone is going to die eventually – some sooner than others (read Boka and his cult of vegans). Might as well enjoy it.
My grandfather just celebrated his 95th birthday, and still going strong – lives by himself, not medically dependent on anyone or anything, has no medical problems what so ever. Do you think he gives a damn about what he eats – NOPE. Live like him, and live to 100+!
I eat meat because I like it, not just a little, but a lot. I also like vegetables and fruit and many other types. I have an organic garden for years too. I am also a trained health care professional. Vegans are at risk for many chronic starvation problems, chronic low blood sugar and attending risks among them. You sound as if you are vegan because you have a religious connotation in it. If that is your worry, do away with yourself because you are displacing space animals and other living things need. This story is idiotic. Bacteria is everywhere. We have immune systems, and brains so that we can have sanitary conditions. People have died from tainted vegetables and fruits, organic juices, from certified companies, etc. There is a health theory called "The Hygene Hypothesis." It says that first world countries like Europe and particularly North America have such over hygenic societies that the populations are actually weakened. This is why we so often get sick when traveling, etc. There's something to that. I'll wash my meat as usual, and have my steak medium-rare as I always do. Hmmm, can't wait!
This is a timely article. Last night night I opened a package of chicken breasts and they smelled AWFUL. They hadn't expired yet, but they were definitely not good. I threw them away, even though I briefly considered cooking them and eating them anyway...since it's not like you eat rare chicken and fully cooking them would kill bacteria anyway (I hate wasting food...). But the thought of that just grossed me out. There are probably enough bacteria in chicken breasts that smell normal; to think that there was enough that they smelled rank is icky. No thanks.
Respectfully, next time that happens, rewrap them securely, put them in the freezer and take them back to wherever you bought them and get your money back. If they give you any lip, stop shopping there.
its amazing how humans even got this far. if we were so fragile i think we would b all dead by now. if ur that freaked out then i suggest u have a shot or two of Jack after u eat.
I can speak for both sides of the fence. I run a large processing plant and we take daily measures to ensure that all finished product is safe for consumption. It does fall on the consumer to prepare it properly by following our stated instructions. Then I own a small farm where I raise and sell natural beef products. I can tell you, the "factory" side is much more regulated and tested than the local guy! I have an onsite USDA inspector and a micro lab that does testing 7 days a week. I don't have either on my farm! Just live life and stop worrying about everything! If it taste good it's bad! The chicken guys say pork is bad and the pork guys say chicken is bad! It's who ever is paying the best lobbyist and marketing group at that particular time!
@P&P, and you do you personally trust that system of inspection? I seem to remember a number of high-profile, massive meat recalls in recent years. What's needed is not more regulation or inspection—it's transparency. We need more trustworthy relationships between producer and consumer, not government lackeys with checklists, clipboards and funny hats.
This article is completely worthless because it provides information (i.e., there's staph bacteria in packaged meat) but not a shred of analysis or explanation of what that means for the reader.
Most everyone is missing the large problem... Yes we all have bacteria all over, but the really horrible stuff we're not around as much, or our bodies can kill it easy. The issue is with MRSA, which has developed so fast that our immune systems are not as good at killing it off; dont get me wrong, it can kill it, but your immune system better be strong. MRSA is most dangerous because it can "hang out"... Sit in your nose or on your skin without attacking you. That's true until you get a hard cold and are served antibiotics for the cold.... The antibiotics you get from the doctor will likely kill all the bacteria that helps keep MRSA in check. Once this happens MRSA becomes very aggressive. Many many people who dyed from the Swine flu in the US, dyed from secondary infections caused by MRSA, which probably was already on their body, and not from the hospitals. From now on when a doctor says the problem with super bugs is related to doctors prescribing too many antibiotics, I will bring up the fact that the meat industry is probably mostly to blame.
I personally have started trying to stick with meats that are raised antibiotic and hormone free, grass feed, and as free range as possible! It is more expensive to purchase, thus, I'm eating less meat probably because of that, but it IS better for you in the long run. No only does eating meat loaded with antibiotics and hormones over time cause antibiotics to become less effective in your system over time, it can mess up your natural hormone balance and cause things such as difficulty losing weight, fatigue, lowered immune system, headaches, etc. I have been eating as natural as possible for just over a month now, and I have noticed a significant difference...my PMDD symptoms have become much milder, I sleep better at night (had terrible insomnia before), I have less digestive issues (gas, constipation, etc.), my skin is clearing up (I'm 38 and have had to deal with acne since I was 10), my asthma problems have gone away, etc. Thank goodness that penicillin still works with me...only antibiotic that has ever worked whenever I get a respiratory or ear infection. Like I said, it is a little more expensive, but it is so much better for the body in general to eat only naturally raised meet. Sure, the bacterias may still be in some of this stuff, but from what I've read above, it is mostly the antibiotic/hormone injected animals being fed engineered feed that are raised in close quarters that have the worst bacteria counts. Just think, if all of these preservatives, dyes, hormones, etc. cause all these problems in humans because the body doesn't know what to do with all these man-made substances, don't you think they do the same thing to the animals? These animals could probably fight the bacteria in their systems better if they weren't "engineered"!
Almost half of the meat and poultry sold ...contains a type of bacteria that is potentially harmful to humans, a new study estimates. Estimates, ESTIMATES. What kind of study provides an estimate ? And what kind of writer would provide such a story that has such narrow substaniation of the facts. WOW. Yellow journalism
Meat takes 3 days to digest. That means there is rotting flesh in your body as you walk around, work, sleep for 72 hrs!
And it's so yummy! How about a dinner of chicken wings for the app, bacon wrapped scallops and a nice steak for the main course, and can't forget the bacon and chocolate cupcake!
So your saying you wear Depends and smell like poop for 72 hrs?
Nothin' like a greasy cheeseburger and a nice long nap!
It takes 48 hours for ANY food to pass thru the average human body. If it takes your body 72 hours, maybe to combat your anal retentive qualities, you should have an stfu colonic.
I say we cook and eat Boka. Apparently he/she is grass-fed AND grain-finished.
Good idea about cooking him/her up. But I have this funny feeling that the flavor would be bitter, tasteless and unfulfilling.
Not only are you Vegan (which sucks, I feel sorry for you), but you also must have a thing for zombies because you keep talking about rotting flesh. I like my rotting flesh with extra CHEESE please!
Switched at the beginning of the year to buying local grown beef. Grass fed,never ANY shots of any sort Limousin beef.
It is a much leaner type of beef that may take a little adjusting to your grilling methods. Simple procedure. Buy a chest freezer ($100-150) plenty big enough for a 1/4 steer. I started by buying a 1/8 steer and realized how much I like the beef and peace of mind of grass fed hormone free beef. Just do it now, you will never go back to store bought corn fed beef.
Supporting the small cattle farmer makes way more sense too.
If the cattle you are eating have never received any vaccines not only is that cruel but ILLEGAL. At the very least cattle are illegal required to receive brucellosis vaccines. Brucellosis IS zoonotic by the way, enjoy your miscarriages.
I don't know where you got your information, but unless things have changed in the last few years, it is not MANDATORY that cattle be given brucellosis vaccinations. Maybe where you live, but not across the entire U.S. That's just plain wrong.
Think about this – people feed cows grain instead of grass, pump the cows full of hormones and antibiotics. The cows are chopped up into chunks. People eat that and then hit the gym to get healthy. Weird people. Just go Vegan. And stop driving that gas fueled car please.
I sure could go for some Prime Rib! MMMMM
LOL Bunny – I'll drive! I'll even borrow a friends Hummer H2. I get great gas mileage – 9 MPG!!!!!
When you bought your Hummer did you stare at the ground and yell "Take that planet earth! You're my B@tch!
Can you not read? What part of the sentence "I'll even borrow a friends Hummer H2" doesn't make sense to you?
Your vegan brain needs some meat so you can process the English language!
"People eat that and then hit the gym to get healthy. Weird people. Just go Vegan"
Soooooooooooo vegans don't have to exercise because they don't eat meat? Interesting.
How about the stores that sell the following meat? There are alternatives to factory farms you know.
- Humanely Raised on Sustainable U.S. Farms and Ranches
- Never Given Antibiotics – Ever
- Never Given Any Added Hormones – Ever
- Fed All Vegetarian Feeds
Boka, you seem to make too many incorrect all inclusive assumptions about what other people do. You also appear to be somewhat of a close minded, flighty person suffering from protein starvation. Come back to the Earth you voiferate to love so much and have a free-range grass fed cheese burger. Your body WILL know what to do with it.
Meat is dead flesh, always has been and always will be. Just cook it and handle it properly and there will be no problem. There have been just as many problems with vegetables over the past few years, remember the spinach recall etc.
Let's face it, these stories are only produced as filler to satisfy our 24/7 news cycle.
Turns out, that's why people cook meat before eating it. Weird, I know. And the bugs wouldn't be antibiotic resistant already if we wouldn't just carpet bomb meat stocks with antibiotic treatment before it's sold. If you've ever heard of MRSA, that comes about the same way.
"And the bugs wouldn't be antibiotic resistant already if we wouldn't just carpet bomb meat stocks with antibiotic treatment before it's sold."
You don't have a clue what you're talking about. Not only is "carpet bombing . . . before it's sold" not done – it's illegal.
Good thing I'm vegan. This stuff will kill you.
Get off your soapbox, moron.
Feel free to post on a vegan site then. Troll along now.
I'm a troll because my opinion differs from yours? You are so american.
No, you're a troll because you're inciting responses to all the ignorant comments you've posted on this thread.
Staphylococuss aureus does not live in meat alone!
Besides it is the toxin that is produced when this bacteria grows that makes us ill.
Proper food handling of ALL food is the only way to avoid this toxin.
Everyone is colonized with Staph on their skin. Staph consumed with food is not pathogenic as stomach acid would easily kill the bacteria. What is the bacteria that was resistant. Those antibiotics mentioned may not be intended to kill the bacteria mentioned and the use of resistance in that case is wrong. Bacteria are everywhere and are part of our life. Do you really expect food to be completely devoid of germs?
Assume that there is bacteria in all the meat you buy, and cook the living Christ out of it. Problems happen due to insufficient cooking.
Cook the meat correctly and the bacteria will be killed.
I wonder if my sausage has bateria? Afetr all, it's been up every guys poop shoot.
*bacteria* trying to slap the money and type at the same time!
dud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
people. bacteria is everywhere, on your skin, in your mouth, on meat. that's why you should... oh i don't know... cook it?
Truth: Bacteria lives on every piece of meat you eat.
Truth: People eat bacteria that is potentially harmful to them every day; in sufficient quantities.
Missing data from story: Was the bacteria found in sufficient quantity to be a problem (as it is not mentioned; one can make a reasonable guess that it was not).
This is like saying "90% of people are exposed to sunlight, which can potentially cause cancer!!!"
It's a complete and utter non-story. CNN ought to be ashamed of themselves for even taking the time to write it. It is clearly intended to be an alarmist attention getter of a story around what really amounts to nothing.
I wonder if the author went to college to study journalism knowing they would write fluff like this.
I say if cooked to the proper temp, handled with due caution, and purchased from a responsible butcher, your risks are indeed minimized. Heck, I still eat my eggs "sunny side up" and enjoy pork on a regular basis. Scare tactics have little or no impact on my eating habits, except the "peanut paste" issue a year or so ago, can't cook those to kill off bugs.
Since when is it news that bacteria are on meat...bacteria are everywhere. Just prepare it properly, and you'll be fine.
Luckly I cook my meat so this article does not apply to me.
Exactly, just cook it properly.
It's great how the media attempts to munipulate. This isn't even news is it? There's bacteria in everything. I agree with Larry. I wonder what your toothbrush would look like.
I feel this picture is highly deceiving. Someone is tryig to make organic look bad. The picture is of an organic piece of beef. The article mentions ground beef, not regular beef. Nothing was mentioned of organics. This picture is irresponsible and leading the passerby to suspect organic, I wish I knew who to complain to.
honest to g-d......its just a picture......does the CNN actually have to check each picture to make sure it fits the article...its a damn article about meant and bacterial contamination....so they put up a picture of meat in the supermarket. I looked at the picture, i didn't study it....i didn't even notice the label on the meat said organic.....don't you effin hippies have anything better to do.....Now i am off to BK to get me a triple angus burger....RUH!!!!!
Wow. Just shocking. Meat has bacteria. Come on people, why do you think you wash your hands after touching raw meat and wipe your counters down? Because of the BACTERIA! Is this story supposed to be new? I assumed when I handled raw chicken that it had bacteria on it that needed to be cooked away. That's why chicken taretare never truly caught on and why they have these fancy little gadgets called meat thermometers that tell you when meat is safe to eat and all the harmful BACTERIA are killed. I'm more shocked that only half the meat tested positive for it.
Ummmmm...cuz im a vegetarian for animal rights and harmful things u know.
They've found bacteria in Antarctica, so why should any of us be surprised that there are bacteria living in meat? I may have the opposite opinion, but if bacteria aren't on the stuff, you probably shouldn't eat it as it's probably super toxic!!!
Eat at Taco Bell. No meat there. ;)
Bah-ha-ha-ha!
I'm fortunate to be able to raise my own meat. Beef, lamb and chickens along with a huge variety of fruits and veggies.
Guarantee your meat has bacteria on it as well as your veggies. You can't get rid of them, no matter how clear your process is.
Lots of women want my meat.
Im surprised the % is act5ually that low, this is why we ya know cook food....
By choosing the picture with the organic label, do you mean to imply that half of organically labelled meat is contaminated? Did the study make a distinction or is this simply misleading?
I love how whenever some study comes out about meat and *POSSIBLE* dangers associated with it, the drones come out in masses defending their love of meat and why it is safe. Nobody was attacking your choice to eat it, just cook the stuff properly and be aware that if an antibiotic resistant strain of bacteria DOES get passed to you due to some freak accident, then be prepared to die because if the penecilin didn't work on it before, it won't work when your guts are melting from the inside out.
people do get defensive about their addictions, even knowing that factory farms are filthy and horribly cruel. i often feel like i am amongst the stepford wives. it's mind boggling.
Or you could make educated choices and purchase locally from farmers/butchers who you know don't cruelly treat/kill their animals? That's a possibility too. Or maybe you are from PETA, and animals should have more rights than other human beings....
Thank you! Why are people even on CNN if they are so hostile to even hearing there are precautions they have the OPTION of taking if they so choose? I don't see any fear mongering in this article. What is with this aggressive ignorance that has taken over this country?
Another fun fact: S. aureus is a resident flora in a majority of people's anterior nares (your nostrils)! People aren't getting Staph infections or MRSA everytime someone sneezes or picks their nose, and they're certainly not getting sick from eating meat with, *GASP* bacteria on it!
I Always Beat my Meat before putting it on the grill..Scares the BeJesus out of them Bacteria!!!
We learned about THOSE emoticons yesterday. Funny stuff – just like your comments! ;)
Well, DUH. Just like we have bacteria in our bodies that could be harmful to us. That's why we COOK meat before we eat it.
Uhm, aren't we supposed to exposed to some pathogens? Isn't that sort of how our immune system works? Besides, cooking meat properly eradicates the problem.
No kidding there's bacteria in the meat, RETARDS! That's why meat is COOKED before consumption! "This just in! Showering with power tools may be hazardous to your health and welfare!" No. Kidding.
Now, let's test how much bacteria is on the hands of the ordinary people who are preparing or consuming their meat. Just picked up the phone? Just touched the remote control? Just dried your hands on day-old dish towel (or your pants)? Just pulled your groceries out of a cloth shopping bag that you haven't washed...ever? Congratulations. You have more bacteria on you than in the meat you're consuming.
Ahhhh, a voice of reason. Thanks for being a refreshing change.
Why don't they tell you you won't need antibiotics if you cook it properly. The resistant strains were probably developed because the animal feed included antibiotics whether the animals needed it or not.
Bacteria will always be present on on dead flesh. Proper handling of the meat in the kitchen and correct cooking methods will take of the bacteria.
It is also on all LIVE flesh.
Scare mongering again? *Shocking*... what's the matter CNN, did McDonalds not sign up to advertise on your website and take their billions of dollars to a more crediable news source?
Aw honey, don't be scared. The only reason to fear a story any news agence puts out is because you aren't well informed. Go get informed – you'll feel SO much better. ^_^
You must see Super Size me to fuly appreciate how they make the fast food burgers and "nuggests" Extruded, centrifuged, crushed bone and all. Yumm.
yuck! ck out this site buyandsellwwii dot com i think you will like it
Does CNN report any positive news?
Headline:
53% of meat in America is bacteria free:]
There's no reason to pick on CNN. Any news media is going to pick up a story they think will draw in readers. It's their job.
s/b @Tim, not CNN
how bout telling us what 26 stores CNN
I love how the picture they use is of meat with a certified organic label on it. Factory farms are the problem but CNN never misses an opportunity to mislead Americans into thinking that sustainable farming is the problem. Nice try CNN. Why not show a picture of conditions at a large meat processing plant to make a real connection to the bacteria problem.
Well put Ray. This article is an expurgated version of another one in their health section. I have an issue with what seems to be a small sampling size accurately representing the larger population of meat sold to the consumer. It is telling though, if you read the original article, that finding such resistant strains strongly implicates the results of factory farm practices with regard to their handling. I’d be interested in seeing how many of their tainted samples were that of non-factory farm sources but cynically I doubt they made such notes as to the purported source from the retail labels due to the threat of litigation for publishing their findings. Here, everyone can hide and claim ‘ours is safe it must be the other guy’.
From the Organic Trade Association:
'A University of Minnesota study concerning fecal E. coli in fresh picked produce by Mukherjee et al, published in the Journal of Food Protection (Vo. 67, No. 5, 2004), found that the percentage of E. coli prevalence in certified organic produce was similar to that in conventional samples. However, it did find a marked difference in the prevalence of E. coli between the samples from certified and non-certified organic farms. “Ours is the first study that suggests a potential association between organic certification and reduced E. coli prevalence,” the authors wrote. They noted that the results of the study “do not support allegations that organic produce poses a substantially greater risk of pathogen contamination than does conventional produce.”'
Basically, as far as the bacteria is concerned, there isn't really any difference. Studies suggest that there is no added risk of bacteria, nor a statistically significant reduction. Also, whether conventional farming WAS resposible for the creation of certain resistant strains or not, they are not confined there and can be found in both organic and non-organic produce and meat.
I'll agree that their choice of stock photo was odd, though.
In terms of antibiotic resistant bugs though, did they actually find the same percentage in organic meat? I would think that would be caused by the massive feeding of antibiotics that feedlots do to their cows, which doesn't happen under Organic requlations. So bugs are one thing, but med resistant ones are factory farm specific.
Sue,
As far as I know there has not been any studies done to compare percentages of resistant vs. non-resistant between organic and non-organic.
A lot of proponents of organic do claim that that is the case, but there has not been any conclusive studies done as far as I know, just studies that say they are present.
I think it is improper to offer conjecture that would suggest that a single study, which I thank you for referencing (I have provided a link for others), would be sufficient to imply that such accounts on produce (fresh fruits and vegetables )must also hold true for meat products. There are too few of studies about this to rationally debate any links or parallels at this time. http://www.solvita.com/pdf-files/Mukherjee-2004.pdf
I would hypothesize that the fertilizer used, particularly manure, if not also sought from certified organic origins might be how and why resilient strains of bacteria might still occasionally appear in the organic produce lineup. The term ‘handling’ really needs to explicitly address not just how things are done at the farm in question but encompass the sources of the consumable material used by the farm as well.
Rather than rage on organic vs. factory farmed it might be a far more useful to have an article delve into the entire food handling process and examine cross contamination potentials a given product is exposed to from source to dinner plate.
Cynically Dubious,
Er... I'm quite interested in how you see me as raging against organic. If anything I said exactly what you said, there haven't been enough reputable studies to show one way or another. Thus, the OP was out of line with his comment using a blanket statement against non-organic farming when in reality these bacteria (yes, even those with mutations that make them less susceptible to certain antibiotics) are a natural occurance. Now, whether the ratio of resistant to non-resistant strains is different between the farming methods, I have no idea.
In fact, YOU are the one conjecturing by trying to blame things for bacterial contamination when all I said is that the bacteria can be found on organic items as well (it would be highly unnatural for there it to NOT be there).
I say we irradiate it if we're concerned.
I think it is a bit more sinister than it looks. They are building up to some sort of new regulation on organic products and need to swing some opinion. The 'organic' label is more by design than than by chance.
All you have to do is prepare it properly....just cook it and wash your hands.
No thats wash your hands then cook it LOL!
Eat meat from local free range, grass fed farms. Don't eat meat from factory farms.
YES! Raise your own beef if possible or use your local farmers/butcher shops!
because they are regulated and wouldn't have any of these issues......
oh wait u just wanted to say free range I get it. how often is your local farm tested for bovine? oh yeah they aren't.
My local farms are tested for bovine quite frequently. You just drive by and see if there are cows in the field.
I just made the switch to buy in bulk from local farmers. Corn fed meat has 6x the saturated fat and far less of key nutrients. Local beef also doesn't go through a big commercial slaughterhouse shared by millions of dung covered cattle (no e. coli!). It is sustainable, supports small American farmers, and a benefit to your health. I paid 6$ a pound for 200 pounds of assorted cuts, so I've got a deep freeze full for the next year!
Where do you get yours? We have farms here in MI and I get it for $4.78/lb...
That's highway robbery. We have never paid more than $2.50 per pound for ours (including processing).
DUH! of course meat has bacteria! So does local meat! Who wrote this stupid article? Do you really think that meat will ever be bacteria-free? And are you so stupid as to think I will buy meat and inject it with some antibiotic? What a ridiculous scare tactic. This is not news, it's cheap drama for the uninformed.
Exactly. Burgers from stores are especially bad - read up on how they combine, bleach, transport, centrifuge, etc. different sourced meat of different ages that eventually become your Angus burger. The only way to know what you are eating and how old it really is is to get it from a free range, LOCAL farm that you can visit. Meat shares are not that expensive unless you plan to gorge on flesh all day.
I hear vegetarians are tasty. Haven't tried them yet though.
Funny how there is no mention of how it was all within normal levels and that it is the reason they label everything with preparation warnings and guidance.
It's not a problem.
Hmmmm... 1/2 of the meat is "dangerous", yet no one is actually getting sick. Time to redefine the term "dangerous"?
There are no "normal" levels of harmful, antibiotic resistant bacteria in anything. Simply by the fact that they are so resistant means that they have evolved beyond your normal run of the mill bacteria. If they are resistant to antibiotics before they reach you, what happens when they get transmitted to you? You'll be the one who is well done, son.
There is no type of QC for hamburger or poultry, which is why we COOK these meats well. I would be more worried about enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli in hamburger meat, not S. aureus. I can isolate Staphylococcus aureus on vegetables sitting in the grocery store or on someone's T-shirt, and yes, including antibiotic resistant strains. The only people who should be worried are the immunocompromised and people who leave old food on the counter for days (enterotoxin and food poisoning). Amateur journalists should not read scholarly peer reviewed research journals.
I feel a new M Night Shymalan movie coming on......
no it is time for the author ti EXPLAIN why it is not DANGEROUS when prepared CORRECTLY.
very poor journalism, is this FOX or something? fear mongering?
Nowhere in the article does it mention "dangerous." It simply states what was found. Common sense would lead the average reader to come to the conclusion that proper cooking is needed. However, this being CNN, the common reader has no common sense so excuse while I beat my head against a brick wall, it will serve a much better purpose than trying to speak with y'all.
The article is on the CNN page, not Fox, you idiot!
Also notice how they used 26 out of the 228 769 existing stores to decide that half the meat in the country is dangerous to eat.
I just don't care; bring on the meat. If it's my time, there's not a thing I can do about it. There are so many other things in the world to concern myself with, why add to my stress about something like this?
Exactly – we are all going to die anyway, so might as well enjoy it.
"I walk in front of moving cars on the street without looking, I don't care, if it's my time I'll just die."
That's the spirit!
Yabbut, what if you're on an airplane, and it's the guy NEXT TO YOU's turn to die?
:)
Good. You'll do us all a favor by getting hit by a car. Thanks.
Oh look! Here comes one now! Run! You don't want to miss your moment.
Aleed... are you truly that dense? The exact same thing could be said to you about your non-chalant attitude toward possible staph infection from contaminated meat. He was saying it to be sarcastic about your post.
Pot. Kettle. Enjoy the company.
RE: "Yabbut, what if you're on an airplane, and it's the guy NEXT TO YOU's turn to die?"
Since all disasters, including plane crashes, are gaaaaaaaawds retribution for transgressors, the innocent are always spared. That's right, Jeeeeezus actually approves the boarding passes on all planes that are fated to crash.
Well that is just inciting people to write you. Of course, ultimately, we all will die when God decides. But why eat, consume, promote, anything that should be exposed as a possible health threat; imagine if you had young children? Or maybe someone you love that is at higher risk and more susceptible to any kind of bacteria, which shouldn't be there in the first place, is exposed? You might not be so "flip", i. e. don't give a f... Buy local, know where your food comes from when it is possible. Namaste.
If this is how you feel please don't use any medicine ever... There are some of us working to make a better world, for me not eating meat has been one of them, partially because of this crap, but mainly because of the way they are raised, processed, and the damage to the environment. Really do some research for once, get educated. Not only have we had E Coli outbreaks in meat(i dont know how when that stuff is processed with ammonia) but also now in vegetables.. don't you wonder why that is? Also maybe check out some documentaries like Food Inc, watch the people who have to make a decision on eating healthy or going to the doctor and getting drugs.. hmm.. tough choice. Eat healthy, you will be less stressed, happier, skinnier, etc.. please do us all a favor and get educated and slow down on the meat consumption
Ahh A veg-head responds. You realize your Veggies are just as likely to have bacteria as meat does. Fertilizers, acid rain, etc. Meat is not bad for you. If you eat veg only you have to take so many supplements (man made vitamins aka chemicals) to help you live its just plain silly. As for the treatment f the animals, WHO CARES they are meant to be food nothing else. They were bred to be just what they are.
Also w have had ecoli break outs in Spinach. lettuce etc.
I believe one of our largest E coli breakouts was traced to spinach. Do we switch to eating rocks now?
First off, if you would learn to read, you would see he said to slow down on consumption of meat, not stop. Also, ecoli comes from feces, something plants do not produce. So, either animals going bye cotaminated it, or so illegal processing them didn't wash their hands after wiping their butt. Anything and everything we eat is full of bacteria, so just eat as healthy as you can, take some precations like washing your food with water, and enjoy life, oh, and learn to read you dumb a s ses
We just learned in my Biochem course last year that E.Coli can crawl through the soma on spinach leaves, meaning washing them does nothing. Enjoy eating all the spinach.
I couldn't have phrased this better myself, so, thank you for writing the perfect bit here; I still cannot believe people live under rocks or in caves somewhere, thinking they don't need to read and educate themselves. I guess the prices at Walmart are just too good. Good, yeah, luck! <3
Huh? So if your water supplier provided drinking water tainted with fecal matter you'd drink it just because you have to die from something someday? This is exactly why we should be irradiating our produce, meat and poultry like they do in at least some European countries. I'm an American living in Italy and haven't seen this problem in all the years I've been here. So why won't US producers do this?? It's cheaper but clearly not more effective to wash our foods with bleach. The cheaper methods our producers employ only clean the surfaces they touch and not contaminated parts say under the skin or internally. Now when the world steps up banning US meat products, and US exports nose dive, Congress will be forced to address what the FDA has failed to do thus far.
Ironically, the same people who think all dangers should be expunged from life, are hysterically superstitious about, gasp! RADIATION. This is why we live in a world where nuclear power plant construction has been stymied for forty years. Oh my goooooooooooooooooooooooooooood... we're all gonna glow greeeeen at night! Somebody dooooooo something? Thanks the hand-wringing pony-tailed tree huggers for the coal-fired power plants that cause acid rain that are killing trees in the Smoky Mountains. Dip$h!t$.
Geez Deb, defensive much? The question was posed in the first person. That's how I answered it. It didn't ask how I felt about it on a global scale or how I think this will effect others. The word you should have used is "literal" not "flip."
The remedial reading comprehension class has a desk just for you over at the stfu academy. Sit on it.
DUH! Because it's shmeat! Want to eat real meat? Stop by NoShmeat.com, and read up, esp the "most popular" stuff on the right there. Pretty much says it all.
DUH that is why you cook meat before you eat it!!! Bacteria is the largest biological mass in the world. You have bacteria all over your body and you don't die. What a stupid article to try and get people worried and scared!!!
Couldn't agree more. What a joke. Bacteria is EVERYWHERE. The only place I'd expect to not find bacteria is on a surgeon's scalpel but who knows.
Staphylococcus aureus if allowed in the right temperature zone grows rapidly and produces toxins which is what makes people sick with the illness Staphylococcal gastroenteritis (nausea, vomiting and cramps). The only way this bacteria gets into these foods is by cross contamination cause by...you guessed it, humans. Simple hand washing, and other personal hygiene practices along with proper food handling, cooking, holding and cooling properly, can prevent an outbreak.
If these products have a normal level of this bacteria it is safe to eat. It is how it is handled in the further preparation that can be potentially harmful. Totally preventable in my opinion.
I must also say that cooking does not destroy this particular bacteria.
Duh: it's the "type" of bacteria that's of concen, not just "bacteria" in general. Staph infections are very serious & the use of antibiotics in the raising of animals for food is not having much effect if half of them are infected. The real issue is prolonged use of antibiotics in animal feed that results in resistance to those same antiobiotics in humans & animals.
they are bringing up the point that it is a bacteria immune to vaccines, which makes it more dangerous than all the other kinds of vaccines in meat. so sad that you have to eat something that you have to worry about cooking right so it will not be poisonous. i'm glad i'm vegan. factory farms are disgusting and cruel.
ooops, meant bacterias in meat. have a great day everyone!
kristin,
Vaccine resistance? I hope that was just a typo you made... twice.
CNN (and most news media) need to establish some professional criteria concerning articles like this one. They use a lack of knowledge to scare people which ends up not only teaching people the wrong thing, but also damaging commerce. I often wonder if this type of article is edited to intentionally sensationalize and scare people or if the writer is just that ignorant of the whole scenario. If intentional, what is the underlying motive? If ignorance, why is the writer being "employed"? In either case, CNN bears the responsibility.
Guys, come on.. Think about it. Why is it that even though almost HALF of all meat in the US has this form of bacteria, that there isn't a mass outbreak of sickness. It's cause for most people are able to deal with the bacteria.. EVEN the resistant ones. I hate how CNN puts these view grabbing titles just to scare the viewers.
@Thomas except for the fact that the toxins they produce are still present after you kill them by cooking. In fact, some of those toxins are a direct result of the bacteria dying in the first place.
I take it it causes cancer, too. No big deal, you can make out you will online.
Nail on the head! Meat is not sold "sterile". That is why you cook it. Meat has always, and for that matter veggies as well, had bacteria on them. Let's not even talk about cereals and acceptable limits for insect parts etc! And please, Please don't do bioburden on your milk! And ... and... Since when did we expect life to be be risk free?
Funny how they decided to put a photo of an certified organic piece of meat. Hmmmm....makes you think if big pharma for antibiotics is behind this article right?
chefshack and fallen kelly check your facts.
Chefshack: this bacteria is more of a problem in ground meat than steak as shown in the picture. Simply washing hands would not be sufficient to eliminate this bacteria from food. In slaughter houses the meat is exposed to fecal contents during packaging and this is further mixed in during the grinding process. S. aureus is not carried asymptomatically by humans, and the main source is fecal contamination in slaughter houses from the infected animals themselves.
Fallen Kelly: This is a gram positive organism, so the toxins released by cooking (lipopolysaccharide) is not of substantial concern. This bacteria does specifically produce enterotoxins, but they are not influenced positively or negatively by heat or cold, as they have very stable thermodynamic properties.
I am sorry I have to hit Reply istead of making my own comment because CNN wont let me. This is quite possibly one of the dumbest articles I have ever read. Did you know that 70% of people on the planet have Staph Aureus in their nasal cavity at any given moment? That means that this meat has LESS of this kind of bacteria than most human beings. It is like one of the single most common bacteria ever. And YES it can be killed with heat – so proper cooking will kill the bacteria, just as it will kill other pathogenic bacteria that is present on meat. You have more risk of exposing yourself to this bacteria shaking someone's hand than eating some properly cooked meat.
SERIOUSLY, so annoying. I wish they put these kind of stories in the proper context. If anything they should emphasize how much bacteria is on ALL surfaces, everywhere you go, even on your own skin and body – then maybe people would freak out less about contamination and start ensuring that they were just preparing and cleaning up after themselves instead of completely trying to eliminate them from everything.
Agreed this is a farce. Probably bought and paid for by the idiots at PETA
You don't cook it before you handle it do you? Also some things like beef are often consumed without being thoroughly cooked. Raw meat is obviously a major source of infection in this country. How many people sterilize their work surfaces in the kitchen? I don't mean wipe them down I mean sterilize. Some of these bacteria are pretty tough and take strong disinfectants. FYI those antibacterial soaps contain a dash of the chemical so all they are really doing is making the bacteria more resistant.
Why do you think they want to irradiate meat? To kill off the now overwhelming numbers of bad chit in the mass market meat supply. yes bacteria is everywhere but staph is a variety we would do well to avoid.
The issue with mass market meat is the lack of care and consideration for the animals and the whole process. Decades of greed and need for low prices has created this unhealthy process of sick animals pumped full of antibiotics and hormones which pass on to us and our children in a low grade. But overtime the accumulation of these substances are not good. It's actually a major reason for overall disease in this country.
The solution is to source your meat more carefully. Find local butchers and organic farmers who have transparency to their farms. Yes you pay a little more, but nothing in this life is free. Shop for the specials and support your local farms. Otherwise no use complaining.
Jesus didn't give me incisors and canines to just chew on plants. Nothing better than a healthy cow becoming a healthy steak... And served with a beer.
Kristin "they are bringing up the point that it is a bacteria immune to vaccines,"
Think you need to hit the books a little more – vaccines build immunity against viruses you know like measles, mumps, rubella, polio, and chicken pox.
Staph can be found on our skin (ever hear of MRSA) and causes no problem as long as our immune system is healthy. Even if cooking doesn't kill all of the bacteria, stomach acid will. The primary cause of staph infection is by introduction to soft tissue through a wound on the skin.
Nice attempt at starting yet another panic by the media.
Do you sterilize your friend's hands before you shake them? Or the coffee pot at work? Or your door handle? Or the toilet seat? Because the same risks are there as there are with meat. It is EVERYWHERE. There is no more risk with raw meat then their are with your neighbors hands. Wash up after yourself and clean your counter. Cook your meat. Crisis averted.
Yes, bacteria are everywhere. But antibiotic-resistant staph is NOT everywhere–or at least, it shouldn't be, and there's nothing natural or ordinary about these figures. Pull your head out of the sand, cook your meat through, and vote for public officials who will stop the food industry from feeding and slaughtering practices that are unsanitary. Here's one place where deregulation (mostly by underfunding) has been a disaster.
YES antibiotic resistant bacteria ARE everywhere. OMG do people think that bacteria follow some kind of guidelines for where they can grow!?! Like somehow because they are antibiotic resistant they will be like "well I guess I shouldnt be growing here?!? I wish microbiology was a mandatory class for everyone. I cant understand how people can be so ignorant to something they encounter every second of their lives. Bacteria will grow on ANY and EVERY surface where the environment is suitable for them. So if a regular Staph bug grows on meat, so will a resistant Staph. The only difference between the two is that they express a few different genes that will block the mechanisms of some antibiotics. MRSA grows can grow on many surfaces, it just doesnt ALWAYS cause infection.
ME – I AT LEAST BOIL AND COOK ALL MEAT -FIRE TENDS TO KILL ANYTHING. I EVEN WASH DISHES IN A LARGE METAL -CONTAINER -WHY CAUSE EVEN SURGERY TOOLS ARE STERILIZED BY WATER LEFT AT A ROLLING BOIL FOR A WHILE . AND I ALLWAYS WASH MY HANDS WHEN AFTER HANDLING RAW UNCOOKED MEAT . AND WHEN I COOK MEAT I COOK IT TILL ITS WELL DONE – I LEARNED THIS FROM MY FATHER WHO IS 74 NOW WHO GREW UP WITHOUT REFRIGERATION . TRY READING ABOUT POTTED MEAT LIKE PORK BACK IN THE DAY WITHOUT REFERIGERATION – AND ALSO GET A JOB WORKING FAST FOOD AND TAKE A FOOD SERVERS TEST AND LEARN ABOUT FOOD – AND ALSO KEEP IN MIND – many corporations here and overseas in order to cut costs are preparing food at the farm or ranch not the refinersy so expect alot more – salmonella -campobactor / ecoli and lysteria and hepititus related recalls in the future -i would be especially worried about those "paid off " u.s.d..a. on site paid /hired by the company agents that some how can afford 4 million dollar homes on a salary of "$50,000.00 a year incomes :}"-p.s. next time they come out and inspect – peclorate contamination in wells in california – tell them to uncap the wells at high noon when the gasses rise – not the mornings when the gasses are still at the bottom of the well . and tell the water treatment guys at the sewage plants to post there weekly "real" readings in the news -and not keep it from the public as they do now . – me i go by my nose and taste and sight . if its out of date – or questionable – it gets tossed
but other things that are currently dated in cans will be suspect and some i will use that have gone out of date since dating is not an exact science . .i feel one day because of overuse and miss use of anitbiotucs in live stock and hybrids – we will have a famine because if the most strongest breed -genetically altered and hybrid and over medicaled-animal or plant food item fails victim to a super viral bug – theres nothing stoppingthe virus from destroying anything else – not to mention all the needless waste of herds or crope fields where some cases are found . and with global climate change – cross contamination is at a verry high tisk factor these days do to insect over population – higher longitude regions affected by environmental conditions leading to viruses and super bugs going farther north and south towards the poles sue to drought and heat waves -flooding and temptrature extremes – so yep famines on its way in the future – so i would study the topic " famine foods " by bob "robert " freedman .
OK, I've read MORE incorrect information on Staphylococcus aureus here than there are valid articles available on the internet!
First, Staphylococcus aureus is in your nose and sinuses. It's on your skin. SOME serotypes are harmful to those whose immune systems are weakened or their bodies are compromised (wounds, in particular).
Staphylococcus aureus is rather thermally stable, it takes a whopping 12-14 minutes of cooking to kill it. Stomach acids beat it into submission. The toxins ARE inactivated by heating. That is WHY we cook food!
Now, if they said Escherichia coli was found in half of all meat, I'd say we have a major sanitation problem at the plants. THAT is a fecal coliform bacteria, which happens to be in all of our guts. The O157:H7 serotype being a significant cattle excrement borne pathogen that IS frequently lethal to small children and elderly, destroying the kidneys of survivors quite frequently.
No, it was one of most common bacteria the world.
Also, bacteria are NOT the most common organism on the planet, they're actually rather well matched with fungi and protozoans.
Isn't this generally why you are supposed to COOK your meat before eating it to at least 165, and STORE your meat at the correct temperature (i.e. NOT defrosting it on the counter top)?
STUPID SURVEY! The article points out that this bacteria is not a problem if a) people cook their food properly, b) wash their hands after handling raw meat, and c) keep raw meat away from other foods. Where is the survey choice that says, "I will continue to eat meat, but will do a better job of taking proper precautions?" when you're cooking, do you wash the utensil that has raw meat juices on it before using it again once the meat is fully cooked? Do you scrub your counters and cutting boards with bleach? GET WITH THE PROGRAM AND STAY HEALTHY!
On a related note, how many times have you purchased roasted chicken from your local grocery store only to get it home and find pink juices inside? I wonder how many people are getting sick because the chicken they THINK is fully cooked isn't! I often have to finish cooking the chicken or have to take it back to the store.
I agree completely. Cooking meat kills the bacteria. Does this website think everyone is stupid?
Government conspiracy anyone? Maybe they think well be more cooperative if were too scared to take matters in our own hands
I can't believe how ignorant and downright stupid so many of these replies are. Our cows are not supposed to be covered head to toe with sh*t when they are slaughtered. Our meat is not supposed to be covered with pathogenic bacteria. We are supposed to get beneficial bacteria from our food sources, as well as enzymes, and cooking everything until it is leather to make it safe just destroys all of the nutritional benefits.
Amazing how smugly ignorant so many people remain on the subject of food and nutrition.
Exactly, handling and cooking these products properly will kill the bacteria. And always clean the grill before cooking on them or best to clean after cooking!!
Clearly you have never been infected by a multi drug resistant form of Staph, also known as MRSA, a bacteria closely related to the flesh eating disease! I HAVE, and here's the proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjtQicIc730
Sophie, you obviously have no idea what you are talking about. The bacteria they are talking about here – Staph – is NOT present in fecal matter. It is destroyed during digestion – it is not a fecal contaminant. So whether or not cows are covered in sh*t would have absolutely no bearing on the results of this study. Staph is present on the skin and mucosal tissues in ALL animals. So the pathogenic bacteria are either coming from the animals skin or the skin of the human who is touching the meat. Before your refer to other posters as ignorant or stupid you may want to educate yourself.
I think it was the Columbia School of Journalism years ago who tried to sell a newspaper with only good news. Nobody was interested until they printed a headline "woman serves dead turkey to family".
OMG ... a germ. Guess what ... We contact millions of germs every day. That is why we cook our meat rather than having raw steak. The largest group of people who are taking a big risk are all the people I see using public restrooms without washing their hands. Now that is disgusting.
BTW ... being vaccine resistant does not mean resistant to cooking. Any meat over 160 degrees for over 3 minutes has no more living bacteria. Be extra careful with any ground beef products and make sure they are well done. I would not advise extra rare or raw steak either.
@kristin
They are talking about antibiotics, which kill bacteria, not vaccines, which help stop viral infections. Just clearing up a common misconception,.
sciencedood: I have checked my facts and I believe you have your bacteria mixed up. Some strains of Staphylococcus aureus are capable of producing a highly heat stable toxin so are not affected by cooking. This bacteria is also most commonly transferred by humans and is in the face, nose, throat and skin of healthy humans so hand washing can prevent this from contaminating food. This article is speaking of more than just ground beef. The Escherichia coli bacteria however is more commonly found in the intestines of cattle and is killed by proper cooking to 155 degrees. The Staphylococcus aureus bacteria can be found in many food sources, deli meats, salads that contain high protein ingredients such as chicken, tuna and cooked pasta mostly because of cross contamination via human hands and contaminated surfaces in the production process.
Yes cooking can kill most bacteria but the some of the toxins, which are what makes us sick, left behind remain.
Proper handling of food WILL prevent most foodborne illnesses.
Somewhere in the chain of production this bacteria was introduced by human hands.
This is a ridiculous article but the comments are much more concerning....besides the fact that bacteria is everywhere on your body, S. aureus is the most common type. With that said all S. aureus is NOT MRSA. Even if MRSA is present on meat, eating it would have no effect on you whatsoever. Your digestive tract is one of the strongest parts of your immune system, and the acid in your stomach would easily kill the bacteria. The other concern about handling the meat is also unfounded; there are significant numbers of people with MRSA on their skin and never develop an abcess, or other bacterial infection from the MRSA. All it takes is washing your hands with soap and water for thirty seconds to eliminate the bacteria from your hands, which should be done after handling any meat regardless if it does or does not contain bacteria.
The concern about the bacteria producing a toxin is also a ridiculous concern; the toxin produced by S. aureus is NOT heat stable (unlike some other bacterial toxins) meaning even mild cooking will deactivate it.
Thisfrom the Mayo Clinic:
Staph bacteria are able to survive:
Drying
Extremes of temperature
High levels of salt
Even cooking won't kill the toxins produced by staph bacteria, which is why they can cause food-borne illness.
©1998-2011 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER).
Given the opportunity I am sure you would eat a jackass too.............probably would eat your dog....right? You must be oriental...............welcome to staphville you stiff...........................
ChefShack, you are incorrect. Staph aureus is killed by heat at 60 Celsius (140 F) for 30 minutes or 80 C (176F) for 10 minutes. The toxin produced by the bacteria, however, is not so easy to inactivate. It requires heating at 121 C (250F) for 30 minutes.
Bottom line, though, is that most foodborne illnesses are prevented by cooking your food properly.
Sciencedood:
just a quick point of clarification... S. Aureus IS a gram positive (as you said), but as such it does NOT have LPS (lipopoysacharide). Only gram negative have LPS (in their outer coat). You're right that they have a heat stable enterotoxin (which is an exotoxin).
eh, sorry for the repeat post, didn't that that had been covered!
Bleach marinade, anyone?
@chefshack – Cooking destroys the bacteria, just not necessarily the toxin they produced while growing on the food.
It's no joke. A year ago, I was cleaning meat, cooked it, and it was O.K. to eat, but I got a very bad infection on my hand. I didn't have a cut. There were red streaks running up my arm, etc. I had to take antibiotics for it, and even then it didn't seem to go away. This isn't a scare story. If you aren't scared, O.K., but don't tell other people not to be cautious.
What an asinine response. You do realize there are GOOD and BAD bacteria, right? I'll give you one guess which type this article is talking about. There are multitudes of studies that link meat (sans bacteria) with diseases. If you add harmful bacteria into the mix, meat is just that much worse for you. I'm not going to force you to stop eating meat, but suggesting that the consumption of meat is NOT a major health concern is just plain ignorant. The problem with health in the US is that there is not enough fear about certain foods like meat.
I cook with nothing but rubbing alcohol just to be safe.
The average person has over 30 different types of bacteria living in their mouths including a few that can make you sick. This article is pointless....but im sure the vegans are drooling over it. The same people that have to pop pills to breast feed their own kids.
Really? IF you believe this is news, you're a moron. Of course their is bacteria on meat. It comes from an animal. I don't know who is dumber, people who might get paranoid after reading this article, or the editors for publishing this "news" in te first place.
I'm not a vegan, however, seems to me if meat is saturated with bacteria any intelligent person would stay away from it or cook it completely. I can understand though if vegan's "jump on this". Would we eat meat if we could not safely cook it? Of course not
Vegans? Veggies are more at risk because they are not cooked as well, are intentionally exposed to fertilizer, come in close contact with the ah, ground?
@train....you are moron for using "their" wrong in the sentence.....jerkbird. now i am going back to eating my meatballs....
Amazing how many bozos don't know the difference between benign and dangerous bacteria. Here's a clue: dangerous bacteria are NOT usually on hands you shake, and they HAVE started appearing on unground beef. This is not trivial unless you have the IQ of a stoat.
Let the vegans not forget about the Mexicans who shoit in the spinach patch while harvesting.
Personally, I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants.
Dirty mouth....yuck................dirty teeth..........yuck..................dirty tongue......yuck..............bet you are a nose picker too.............
What do you think makes banana peels turn black and milk into yogurt? Where do you think antibiotics come from? I'm sick of germaphobes. Why not just write about the landfills filling to capacity? Something equally neurotic from hell.
I totally agree, just ridiculous
Exactly!. Thank jeeeeezus that our far-sighted fearless leaders set aside the Grand Canyon. We won't fill it up with trash until well into the next century. Since we won't be around then, it isn't a problem. Liberals are sooooooo dumb to worry about silly little things. Hell, waste is good for business so it is good for Uhmurikins.
This has nothing to do with Liberals, jackass. It has everything to do with the media needing something to hook people and get them to read. For some reason, scare tactics work better than feel-good stories. But hey, I guess generalizing is fun too.
There's an ethylene hormone in banana peels that makes them turn from green to yellow to black. I must say, i had to look it up, but I was pretty sure it didn't have anything to do with bacteria.
Stejo is right. Ethylene gas causes bananas to ripen and then over-ripen. Nice try, though.
This is exactly why we should be irradiating our produce, meat and poultry like they do in at least some European countries. I'm an American living in Italy and haven't seen this problem in all the years I've been here. So why won't US producers do this?? It's cheaper but clearly not more effective to wash our foods with bleach. The cheaper methods our producers employ only clean the surfaces they touch and not contaminated parts say under the skin or internally. Now when the world steps up banning US meat products, and US exports nose dive, Congress will be forced to address what the FDA has failed to do thus far.
I was in Italy for a long time................watch them in the restaurants.......they go to the bathroom....don't wash their hands..........pee all over themselves and then fix your salad with their bare hands....yummy.....yummy......hepatitis good for the tummy...............
It's not that the bacteria are immune to vaccines, it's that they are declining the vaccines so they don't get autism. Same with the cows
What in the holy hell are you talking about? Vaccines are to prevent infection from viruses, not bacteria...ex. flu virus, polio virus, measles virus, etc. etc. And they don't cause autism, unless your a British guy who used to be a doctor, but had his license revoked. Then yeah, they cause autism.
LOL – Maybe there's a Jenny Mc Cowthy out there. Sorry, couldn't resist.
This strain of Staph is not even harmful to humans upon ingestion. If your rub your meat on your body then i would worry, but as long as your consuming your meat this is nothing to worry about.
This strain of Staph is not even harmful to humans upon ingestion. If your rub your meat on your body then i would worry, but as long as your consuming your meat this is nothing to worry about. This is just another way the media blows something out of proportion.
wash your hands thoroughly before and after you cook and also rub your nose :} nuff said
Do this same swab in the mouths of 1 Million americans and in 100% you will find that the Staph Aureus bacteria is a part of your normal flora. Talk about blown out of proportion.
Some third or so of people have Staph aureus in their noses and a smaller number with it living in their throats. That doesn't necessarily mean that they have a strain they would be exposed to in handling raw meat. The article states some of these strains they're seeing on meat are resistant to multiple antibiotics. So, technically, at least, these are MRSA (Multi-Resistant Staph Aureus), AKA, flesh-eating bacteria. Why not wash hands after handling raw meat to reduce exposure to these bacteria?
MRSA stands for methacillin-resistant staph aureus not MULTI-resistant is not one of the "flesh-eating bacterias"
douse the meat in bleach people, and cook your hands after eating. This is health 101.
Look at me being funny, see what I did was reverse the words around ... get it.
Where is the , "I don't eat my meat raw, I cook it" voting option
Don't think it's to Scare People this reporting but perhaps to "Educate" People. One Reason we presented at the FDA last week to implement the NipperAlert is exactly that NOT to Scare People. http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-590016 But with an alert system perhaps we can create a win win...
I'd like to share something with you. I am almost retired. My mother gave me RAW GROUND beef ( with SALT) when I was about 5 yrs old. I have continued to eat it that way. I estimate that I have eaten 3000 lbs raw. This was in PA, SC, NC, MI & NJ. I have never once felt the least bit uncomfortable. I do eat cooked meat on a daily basis.
Gross. Do you still drink breastmilk from her too?
We must be related. My family has eaten raw top of the round ground raw for the past century. I haven't eaten it recently, but when I do, I look for a good cut of steak, and have it ground once. I refuse to eat any meat that is ground at a factory, even when I cook it or use it in hamburgers or meatloaf or meatballs.
Plants hold the largest biomass in the world, not bacteria. Get your kingdoms straight!
Actually its bacteria (consider all of them living on every non living surface, as well as in the ocean where they are at a concentration on the order of 1 million cells/mL. Plants do not make up the largest biomass or primary productivity. Both of those are "bacteria".
Everybody's body covered with the same bacteria. So when you eat your partner you eat the same bacteria. Your immune system decides if it will fight it off, or you'll get sick.
This is what Americans get for not demanding better quality regarding their food. Only in America, where greed and profit reign supreme would people shoot up chickens with steroids and lock cows into stalls and feed them grain. But, hey, you're getting it all cheaply, right?? And that's what should matter. Well, enjoy. Eat up, idiots.
This just in, 46% of CNN articles contain the deadly bacteria strepto-ignorance. The more people read the stupider they get. They can be cured though with a vaccination of common sense.
I bet worse stuff is living on my balls and my girlfriend is fine.
Now that was funny. Thanks for the chuckle after reading some of these rediculous comments!
Ok everyone posting, watch the video, my goodness, how misinformed people are these days. 90% of you do not even make valid points and read way too much into this story.
This story is meant to incite fear and panic. Bacteria is everywhere! If you cook meat bacteria dies, if you're going to eat meat raw you should probably make sure you trust the source. If you are not mentally able to understand that meat is cooked to help prevent illness please commit suicide as soon as you figure out what it is.
I do agree that scare tactics are real and used constantly; but, not in this case,we all need to listen up: staph is nothing to fool around with, it is real; go see an I. D. Dr., and listen to what they have to say about this. I haven't eaten any processed hamburger ground meat or turkey, don't like the beef much anyway, for a few years; steak is the safer choice,less processed, less contact with people and machinery, maybe every other week. And, only organic. I would rather have less meat, paying more per oz., organic and we are blessed with local farmers, here; MRSA is in all of our hospitals. And in our nursing centers, where the staff is normally pretty much skeleton crew. It happens. My brother just died in December, 2010, at the age of 56; yes, he was already weak and at risk, but the second of several surgeries caused a staph infection that gradually, didn't heal, attacked his body, inside and out, and cut months off of his last bit of life in total pain. That is what it does. No medicine is available yet. At least, this piece on CNN raises awareness, and, maybe will go more global. Peace.
true, i just dont understand all the bs in the news most news articles are not of any importance any way and if you dont mind me asking what is shmeat this world is like a nazi germany full of propoganda both political and non political i really dont know what to beleive or which news knows whats going on so confusing
If you really believe you are meant to eat flesh, then eat it raw. None of this cooking to kill bacteria rubbish.
I am sorry but I am not incorrect in my facts in this case;
I am not a doctor but I have been in food production for more than 35 years with training in many aspects of this field including proper sanitation practices.
Staphylococcus aureus is the most common cause of foodborne illness.
Staphylococcus aureus is a toxin-producing bacterium. There are 6 distinct serological types of Staphylococcal enterotoxins. Killing the bacteria does not destroy the disease-causing toxin.
According Dr. Julie A. Albrecht of the University of Nebraska
“thorough cooking destroys the bacteria, but the toxin is extremely resistant to heat, freezing and refrigeration. Proper hand washing techniques and sanitation of preparation surfaces and utensils help control contamination. Holding foods at 41 degrees or below slows bacterial growth, thereby limiting toxin production”.
So if the bacteria is allowed to grow in the prime temperature zone it will produce these enterotoxins in mass numbers. Most foods affected are foods that are not handled properly. Cooking, cooling and storing properly will keep the bacteria from growing to toxic numbers.
Yes our bodies are able to digest the bacteria but if the food is mishandled enough for the toxins to grow in mass it can make you ill.
In other words if you make a salad with one of these infected meats and you do not handle it properly and keep it out of the ideal temperature zone you may become ill from this toxin.
My bottom line is that most foodborne illnesses are prevented by proper food handling.
Read more: Does the Staphylococcus Aureus Toxin Withstand Freezing? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_7448280_staphylococcus-aureus-toxin-withstand-freezing_.html#ixzz1Jgp01ble