AOLNews is reporting on two recent investigations that suggest large percentages of chicken meat sold in stores is likely to be contaminated with problematic bacteria, some of it antibiotic resistant. One nationwide study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases reported that when they looked at 80 different brands of beef, chicken, pork and turkey (some from Fort Lauderdale) nearly half of the meat and poultry samples (47%) were contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus. And more than half of those were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics.
Another recent study was conducted analyzed "100 packages of chicken parts and fryers from 10 Seattle-area groceries during March. The analysis of these samples found that 65 percent of the birds tested had campylobacter, 19 percent had Salmonella and 2 percent had E. coli or listeria." Some had Staphyloccoccus aureus, including Multi-drug Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), which is very difficult to treat.
