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A group of researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela and Lugo has recently traveled to Copenhagen to present a study at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. And it has been messed up.

As Alejandro Sanz would say, I have "the parting heart" because I am torn between how much I value that for a few days food safety is trending topic and the miedito that gives how from some information sectors certain news are treated. As always, it's important to read the full story, and not just the headlines, before jumping to conclusions.

What are the results of the study?

In this study, 100 meat products (chicken, turkey, beef and pork) chosen at random in supermarkets have been analyzed and "bad bugs" have been found in no less than 40% of the samples. This is undoubtedly a worrying fact.

However, it is important to underline that, as the researchers themselves indicate, although we have obtained bad grades in this review, we are improving with respect to the results obtained in the studies that have been carried out in recent years. The reasons? Fortunately, the legislation and exhaustive controls carried out in the livestock sector are far from the "open bar" of antibiotics that was used and enjoyed in animals years ago.

What kind of bacteria can we find in food?

Bacteria are all around us. They are everywhere. In food, of course, but also in soil, water, plants, animals... Simplifying, according to the WHO, we can find three types of bacteria.

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Bless you.

Increasingly resistant bacteria without innovative drugs for six decades

  • Writing: CRISTINA RUIZ Madrid

Increasingly resistant bacteria without innovative drugs for six decades

The "good bacteria", which are useful for health (for example those found in fermented foods, the famous probiotics), the "bad bacteria", which are those that give bad taste and smell to food, and finally the "dangerous bacteria", such as Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli, which are those that have been found in the samples analyzed in this study.

What can happen to us if we consume these bacteria?

Multidrug-resistant bacteria can cause intestinal diseases and also outside the intestinal tract such as sepsis or urinary tract infections. It is also important to note that pregnant women are especially vulnerable to these superbugs, and even neonatal sepsis can develop in the baby.

It is estimated that more than 700,000 people die each year in the world due to multiresistant bacteria and that in 2050 we will reach more than 10,000,000, exceeding the number of deaths from cancer.

The "quality" of meat is more important than quantity

Although quantitatively most of the products tested had levels of E. coli within the limits considered safe, qualitatively almost half contained this bacterium with mutations that make it resistant to antibiotics. That is, the problem is not that the meat is contaminated because there is a lot of microbiological load in the food... but rather that bacteria have been found to be very "dangerous".

The researchers point out that, although more attention is usually paid to controlling the presence of "walking around the house" bacteria that we all know as Salmonella, Campylobacter or Listeria monocytogenes, it is very important to control multiresistant bacteria.

Chicken and turkey meats have the most bacteria

Among all the samples tested, poultry bear the brunt. Multiresistant bacteria have been found in 68% of turkey samples and in5-6% of chicken samples while the results in pork and beef are kinder: 12% and 16% respectively. The researchers (Azucena Mora and Vanesa García) hypothesize the differences in the production and slaughter of poultry.

The 5 keys of the WHO to protect us from the super bacteria that may be in food.

I am sure that none of the keys will surprise but also that, unfortunately, in many of our homes or the establishments we visit regularly, these five guidelines are not met correctly:

  • Maintain cleanliness.
  • Separate raw and cooked foods.
  • Cook thoroughly.
  • Keep food at safe temperatures.
  • Use safe water and raw materials.
  • The WHO also aims for us to choose foods produced without the systematic use of antibiotics. Fortunately for those of us who live in this corner of the earth, since 2006 in the European Union it has been forbidden to administer antibiotics to animals to promote their fattening. Despite all the hoaxes that are always planted around the use of antibiotics in animals, they can only be administered for therapeutic purposes and under the prescription of the veterinarian.

    • Apothecary Garcia
    • Infectious diseases
    • Pharmacology

    According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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