The EWG concluded that there is an increase in what they called “superbugs” in retail meat due to overuse of antibiotics by meat producers.  

 The group stated, “EWG takes the position that the FDA must take more aggressive steps to prevent superbugs from proliferating and livestock producers from squandering the effectiveness of vital medicines.”

The group also advised consumers to “assume that all meat is contaminated with disease-causing bacteria” and to “avoid superbugs in meat by eating less factory-farmed meat,  [and] by buying meat raised without antibiotics.”

However, the FDA disagrees with the group’s findings saying that it “oversimplified the data and provided misleading conclusions.”

The FDA lists the report significant findings as:

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  • Salmonella isn’t resistant to most common treatments. It is slightly (.7 percent to 3.7 percent) resistant to secondary treatments.
  • Primary antibiotic resistance in chicken remains low
  • Multidrug resistance remains low
  • In specific bacteria, resistance did rise from .7 percent in 2007 to 18 percent in 2011.
  • Resistance to some broad-spectrum antibiotics, which are used to treat salmonellosis, has increased in Salmonella from chicken (10 to 33.5 percent) and turkey (8.1 to 22.4 percent) meats when comparing 2002 and 2011 percentages.

FDA noted this development in previous years and has already taken action by prohibiting certain extra-label uses of this type of antibiotic in cows, pigs, chickens and turkeys, and is continuing to closely monitor resistance to these drugs.

All this comes just as the Animal Drug User Fee Act (ADUFA) has been introduced in Congress for reauthorization.

Food Manufacturing News reported that many groups who support legislation to ban the use in food animals of antibiotics that prevent or control diseases and of ones that improve nutritional efficiency are weighing in on ADUFA, urging Congress to limit the animal health products available to livestock producers.

In a closing statement regarding the situation the FDA said, “We have created a strategy for the judicious use of medically important antimicrobials in food-producing animals that states their use should be limited to situations where the drugs are necessary for ensuring animal health, and done so under veterinary guidance. “

—Compiled from articles by the Federal Drug Administration, Environmental Working Group, Food Manufacturing News and other sources.