Are you one of those people who stopped using ground beef and only eat ground turkey to be healthier?
A new report came out that supports concerns of feeding antibiotics to livestock and poultry. Consumers Report tested multiple samples of ground turkey and found 90% were not only contaminated with bacteria that can make you ill, but the bacteria were also resistant to antibiotics. If you became sick, it would be difficult to kill these super bugs! When testing samples that were labeled “organic” or “raised without antibiotics”, the bacteria found was more vulnerable to our antibiotics.
Bacteria are naturally in all meats, but when certain types are detectable in high quantities it can not only make you sick, it can also kill you! E. coli, staph, salmonella, enterococcus and campylobacter are the bad ones to watch out for.
How can you protect yourself? First, select good quality meats, store at 40 degrees or lower, thaw in the refrigerator, never leave out for more than 2 hours, and cook until temperature reaches 165 degrees or higher.
Consider buying meat in its more natural form and grinding it yourself. Anytime your food is processed, it’s touched by more hands or machines that give it more of a chance to become contaminated.
Finally, pick “organic” or “no antibiotics” meats. Not only will it increase your chances of killing bad bacteria if you are unfortunate enough to become sick, it will also support businesses that raise these animals more naturally. If more people spend their money this way, businesses will take notice and make positive changes to keep up with the competition.