Dangerous bacteria found in US ground turkey

Consumer Reports tested 257 samples from ground turkey products bought at supermarkets across the US and found that over half were contaminated with fecal matter, with 90% of samples testing positive for bacteria. Enteroccus was found in 69% of samples, while 60% were contaminated with E.coli.

The bacteria found in the ground turkey samples was tested for antibiotic resistance and 69% of the entroccus and 80% E.coli bacteria was found to be resistant to three or more classes of antibiotics.

The organisation stated that ground turkey labelled as organic and antibiotic-free was “as likely”​ to contain bacteria as meat from conventionally raised birds, although it added that the bacteria found in these samples was “much less likely to be antibiotic-­resistant superbugs”.​

“When we focused on antibiotic use, our analysis showed that bacteria on turkey labelled “no antibiotics” or “organic” were resistant to significantly fewer antibiotics than bacteria on conventional turkey. We also found much more resistance to classes of antibiotics approved for use in turkey production than to those not approved for such use,”​ it stated.

Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, said the report demonstrated the need for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “ban all antibiotics in animal production except to treat illness”.​

Salmonella​

The report also claimed that the current salmonella standard was not strict enough and said that the US Department of Agriculture should allow no more than 12% contamination in ground turkey samples.

It pointed out that US processor Cargill was forced to recall 36 million pounds of ground turkey after it was linked to an outbreak of salmonella that made 135 people ill and left one dead. Since then, ground turkey producers have been required to update their safety procedures, but Consumer Reports said that eight ground turkey samples in its tests were found to contain antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

One of these came from Cargill, which stated after the recall that it had taken extensive steps to reduce the risk of contamination, the report claimed.