March 6, 2008

Netherlands finds 11 percent of meat tainted with MRSA
 

About 11 percent of meat products in the retail sector are contaminated with methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus(MRSA), according to a recent study by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (VWA).
 

Meat does not contribute to the spread of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but nt-MRSA, a clone of MRSA, can be spread where livestock are kept, according to VWA.

Most nt-MRSA is found in poultry meat, whereas with live animals, the bacteria are only found in pigs and calves.

Arie van Nes, MRSA-specialist from the Faculty of Animal Health, was surprised by that finding and thought that processing could possibly spread the bacteria.

MRSA has not been in live poultry at the moment, but the animal health authority has confirmed that 50 percent of pigs in pig farms are infected with the bacteria.

The level of infection in cattle farms is currently under research.

MRSA is a hospital-associated bacterium that is resistant to most antibiotics.