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| http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-04/meat-beef-carcass-abattoir/5134404 Beef carcasses hanging at a meat processing plant. |
Foodborne diseases can arise from human contamination, improper
cooking, or countless other careless possibilities. Additionally, a antibiotic resistant foodborne illnesses may potentially originate in slaughter houses where beef carcasses are
produced and processed. Cattle grown for beef production are often treated with
a wide spectrum of antibiotics to prevent illness; ironically, this preventative
measure can potentially have worse adverse effects on human health through
building antibiotic resistance in these microbes. A study published in Meat
Science assessed the meat contaminating bacteria known to be human pathogens and
their drug resistance to 17 antimicrobial drugs. Molecular techniques, such as
coagulase gene typing, were performed on 70 swabs of beef carcasses and 70 beef
meat samples. Results showed that the carcasses commonly contained Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia
coli even after evisceration. More interestingly, this study found that during carcass processing
the identified strains of these bacteria were of significantly greater
resistant or polyresistant strains. The gene typing performed in this study
suggested that these strains likely originated in the meat processing plants
tested. While some may believe that antibiotic treatment of livestock is a
necessary preventative step in food health, it is important to think of the long term
effect this may have on cattle, the bacterial pathogens they carry and
ultimately, human health.
Schlegelova, J., Napravnikova, E., Dendis, M., Horvath, R.,
Benedik, J., Babak, V., Klimova, E., Navratilova, P., Sustackova, A. (2002).
Beef carcass contamination in a slaughterhouse and prevalence of resistance to
antimicrobial drugs in isolates of selected microbial species. Meat Science,
66, 557-565.
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