Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria found on German chicken

A spot test (conducted by an environmentalist) found antibiotic resistant bacteria on 12 out of 20 chicken samples in some of Germany's top supermarkets.

Can't say that I'm surprised by this one.

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Really interesting article and so important to keep getting this information out there. Also thanks for the link to the German online newspaper. I enjoy non-north american news sights.

Slowly but surely we're 'waking up' to what is being done to factory farmed food along with how these animals are being raised. Looks like the U.S. is taking a stand on the use of some of these antibiotics: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

ChicoryFarm wrote:

Slowly but surely we're 'waking up' to what is being done to factory farmed food along with how these animals are being raised. Looks like the U.S. is taking a stand on the use of some of these antibiotics: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

So they preserve a reserve weapon against the bacteria. Smart move.

Did anyone watch this episode of Marketplace on CBC?
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Same thing here in Canada...Don't quote me on the statistics as I watched it a while ago, but I believe out of the 100 samples of supermarket chicken they tested, two thirds had bacteria such as salmonella. Out of those 2/3rds, 100% of the samples contained antibiotic resistant bacteria! Some samples were resistant to as many as 7 or 8 different types of antibiotics commonly used for fighting infections.
Shocking!
You can watch it online, takes about half hour but a real eye opener.
Makes me feel really good about feeding my family our home-grown meats.

Yes. I also watched that marketplace show and have thought of it often. Reportedly even poultry cuts labeled " organic antibiotic free" had drug resistant strains up to 3 types . When an owner operated of an organic poultry barn was interviewed he said he didn't know how to account for the bacteria. All his birds were ever fed antibiotics and that he culled for sickness. Only conclusion was that there are no " organic " hatcheries and so his chicks may be carrying the bacteria from hatchery or the egg itself, as carried most likely by the commercial laying hens.
This is why I turned to these poultry forums in the first place, after watching that show I wanted birds that were from off the farm, as many generations from commercial as possible.

This is the kind of thing that launched me, head over heels, into self-sufficiency. I've always felt a need to go 'back to the land', but after seeing a few things on the news as well as some documentaries, I felt so unsafe with everything I put in my mouth or on my body, for that matter.

It absolutely surprises me that people have faith in the food system today. When I embarked on starting my coop restoration, most of my co-workers turned a fuzzy eye my way. "Why?" To have chickens of course. "Why?" Eggs, meat. "It's easier to just go to the store." If anyone has ever read the "Backyard" series that Storey publishing has, it gives approximations for cost per lb of animal and, even if they are 75% lower than what it'll cost me, I'm -still- coming out ahead and know how that animal lived.

The argument then posed to me was that I'd be killing something in good health, with my own hands. I tried to explain the Lion King theory (circle of life... MAAAAA SIMFENYA! Amababeeeeeeseee mabo. Yeah.... *ahem*), and that, were these wild chickens, the day would come where a fox or coyote, a bear, weasle, and so on would get them; I also tried to explain the reality that very few wild animals die of 'old age.' There was silence and it was again mentioned that I'd be taking a life (one I knew, respected, appreciated), and I just gave up.

I notice McD's is now promoting no-filler beef, and I'd love to see someone with the funds go up against them and have it tested. I watched a documentary on Discovery channel about a year ago (tried to find it on youtube, can't remember the name) that documented the creation of fast food meets, including big named locations like McD's, BK and KFC, and the way the meat was handled and treated (never mind the animals) could only be put one way: chemically. Watching that made me understand why people become Moral Vegetarians and Vegans, but I love meat and understand if the world comes to an end, surviving a Saskatchewan winter on leafy greens and supplements is not an option!


Just my 2 cents five dollars.

I'll have to watch the link - though I'm almost scared too..

Wouldn't all the bacteria come from slaughtering/processing? One dirty knife, or gross latex glove or...? Or did they test live birds somehow? Sorry if I 'missed soething' here will watch link & it should explain

Well Doversue, these "super bugs" are resistant to antibiotics do to extreme overuse inthe commercial poultry barns. Apparently the water and feed is drugged 24-7 for max growth rates and low losses. The result are bacteria found in the animal that no antibiotic can cure. So, when preparing the superbug food at home any slip-up where it's not cooked sufficiently, or raw juices splash etc, these are injested by people and now you are sick with an bacterial infection that the doctors may not be able to cure. The CBC show we are referring to said that every major center is opening clinics that deal with "superbug" infections only!!!

The problem is so severe because a bacterial life-cycle is 20 minutes. In 1 year, the number of generations of bacteria is MASSIVE and they adapt in that 1 years time period to things that would take us over 20 years of mild, persistent exposure to build up an immunity to. We keep throwing all these drugs at them and they figure out how to thrive in a very very very short amount of time. Bacteria of different species literally bump into each other and share all the information on resistance.



The best way I can explain it would be my body develops a resistance to, say, diabetes, and I bump into you, the average person or someone with diabetes. My body instantly tells your body "Whoa whoa! Stop doing this, do that." Suddenly, your body is now immune to the condition of diabetes because it knows how to treat it it by itself, and what to create internally to combat it, no matter the circumstances. Now every person you brush into in a mall, at the bus stop, in a theatre, suddenly is the same way, and they touch people and so on and so forth. Now the world, within (likely) a few months is diabetes free.

That is the reality in the world of virus' (viri?) and bactiria.

Yikes. Sounds like bacteria cultures have learned to share better than human ones.