Diseases in Meat!?

Antibiotics

PETA is disturbed by the low-level, continuous feeding of penicillin and tetracyclines to livestock and poultry for growth promotion. They claim "The absorption of antibiotics through meat-eating results in antibiotic-resistant strains of pneumonia, childhood meningitis, gonorrhea, salmonella, and other serious illnesses." (1)

The pork and beef industry claim that whether or not antibiotics are used in animals, resistant organisms will exist, and that these organisms are sensitive to heat, and proper cooking will kill all disease-causing bacteria that may be found. Concern over possible allergic reactions to Penicillin from meat are claimed to be unfounded since Penicillin is not fed to livestock. They also claim that there has been little subtherapeutic feeding of tetracyclines to cattle, even though such use continues to be approved as safe by the USDA. And they claim there is no valid scientific evidence that feeding antibiotics to beef cattle causes human health problems(2).

While this is obviously an optimistic appraisal of the risks, there is limited support for these claims. The National Academy of Sciences says it has never found data directly implicating subtherapeutic use of feed anti-microbials as a risk factor in human illness(3).

A recent report by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service showed no antibiotic residue problems with beef cattle. The USDA as the relevant regulatory agency has established limits and monitoring for antibiotics.(4) The FSIS reports that" Antibiotics may be given to prevent or treat disease in [livestock]. A "withdrawal" period is required from the time antibiotics are administered until it is legal to slaughter the animal. This is so residues can exit the animal's system and won't be in the meat." The FSIS samples meat at slaughter and tests for residues.

We conclude that antibiotic use is not prevalent and correspondingly has not been detected as a problem either by transmission through meat, or as a means of cultivating resistant organisms. If the use of antibiotics were more spread, more data on these concerns would be expected and would likely find antibiotics use to be less desirable.

Meat Borne Pathogens

Is your dinner a Trojan horse of bacteria? Meats, more than any other food product, are vulnerable to hosting potentially serious pathogens, from bacteria like E. Coli and Salmonella to the prions suspected in Mad-cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. If meat can not be kept free of these threats, then surely it should have no place in the American diet.

Should Bacterial Fears Limit Meat Consumption?

Anyone who likes sunny-side-up eggs, or their steaks extra rare, knows that they eat at their own risk. According to PETA, 90% of factory-farmed poultry is infected with salmonella, and food poisoning from poultry kills 1680 people a year (5). This does not even include outbreaks of E. Coli in beef, and other pathogens (Prions will be dealt with later).

While it is true that numerous people become ill and some even die each year from food poisoning from meat, millions more safely properly eat meat without incident every day. What makes a piece of meat unsafe? Basically, three things are required. First, either a bacteria, virus or other microorganism needs to be present. Second, that organism requires temperatures in the "Danger Zone," that is between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit. In this temperature range, bacteria can multiply to sufficient numbers to be a threat. Third, time is required. Temperatures in the danger zone are only hazardous if foods are kept longer than two hours, the minimum time needed for common pathogens to reproduce significantly (6)

Factory farms do provide meat with the first condition, but proper handling and consumption can deprive pathogens of the latter two conditions, making the meat safe and not a threat. People who are not responsible cooks should not eat or serve meat they prepare. People who act to minimize meat exposure to the times and temperatures that make it unsafe are not at risk and should not alter their consumption based on bacterial fears.

Here's some Meat Handling Tips

1. Don't keep food in the Danger Zone for more than two hours.
2. Wash your hands with soap and water before and after handling food. If water is not available, use disposable towelettes.
3. Defrost meat for grilling in the refrigerator or microwave. Meat in airtight packaging can be defrosted in cold tap water, if the water is changed every 30 minutes. Meat defrosted in the microwave needs to be cooked immediately; never refreeze it unless it is cooked.
4. Marinate meat and poultry in the refrigerator, never at room temperature. Never use marinade left over from use on raw meat or poultry on cooked foods unless you boiled it. Cook ground meat to 165 degrees to kill bacteria. Do not rely on pinkness of the meat and juices as an indicator of well-cooked meat. "Pinkness" is not reliable, so use a thermometer.
5. For picnics, chill all foods ahead of time.
6. If traveling longer than 30 minutes with perishable foods, pack them in a cooler surrounded by ice or gel pack to keep food at 40 degrees.
7. Food left in a cooler should be safe if the cooler still has ice in it.
8. If in doubt about the safety of any food, it is recommended to throw it out!
9. Never taste food to see if it is safe!

Will I Turn into a "Mad Cow" if I Eat Beef?

"MAD-COW' disease, which afflicts some cattle in Europe , is classified in the group of TSE diseases or Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies. Other diseases that effect humans in this category include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), kuru, Gerstmann-Strussler-Scheinker (GSS), and Scrapie. Though symptoms vary, two common elements to the disease is the degenerate brain legions and holes that leave the brain 'spongy', and a suspected infectious agent, the prion. A Prion is made of a normal protein (PrP) but in an 'evil' conformation, which among other activities, actively converts normal PrP's into evil PrP's, and causes degeneration in nerve tissues like the brain. The problem is that prions from "mad-cows" probably caused some unusual cases of CJD in persons who consumed infected beef. As a pathogen, prions present a more serious problem then do bacteria. Compared to bacteria and viruses, prions are less understood, tougher to diagnose, and extremely intractable.

Prion diseases are spread by consumption or injection of infected flesh, nerve tissue or spinal fluid. No medical treatment after infection has been found to stop or slow the disease. Worse still, disinfecting infected meat is next to impossible so the consumer has no ability to prevent the disease. To see what doesn't stop prions, click here. Because American beef farmers do not feed animal matter to their cattle, and since infected cattle cannot infect other cattle (unless one cow decides eats another, which is rare) the American beef supply is safe. The USDA should further implement regulations banning the feeding of animal matter to cattle, and to require screening for the disease to ensure future safety. While frightening and poorly understood, prions can be sequestered and kept out of our beef supply. The U.S. Department of Agriculture indicates that TSE's have not been identified in any U.S. cattle." American beef is still safe to eat.

Tough Little Buggers: The British Wrestle with Prions

Chemical disinfectants (e.g. domestic bleach), weak acids, DNAase, RNAase, proteinases (including those found in the animal gut), ultraviolet light, ionizing radiation, heat (cooking temperatures), and chemicals that react with DNA (psoralins/UV light, hydroxylamine, zinc ions), all have little effect on the infectivity of the agent. High temperature autoclaving (135 degrees Celsius for 18 minutes) decreases the infectivity dramatically, as does the use of 1M NaOH, but neither will fully destroy the agent, as it has been found to remain infective after 360 degrees C for 1 hour or even after incineration. Internment of infective tissue in the soil for three years did not destroy the agent. Some phenols and proteases will decrease the infectivity of the agent but not to an adequate degree to be of value in disinfection."

Conclusion

The origin, handling and preparation of meat is not trivial to its safety. Americans should consume meat that comes from safe reputable sources, meat that is properly handled in slaughter, market and home, and meat that is cooked properly. In this way, meat can be safely consumed, and a reduction of responsible meat consumption is not necessary.

1. Conkling, Winifred, "Uninvited Guests," American Health, October 1994.
2. Antibiotics for Animals: The Antibiotic Resistance Issue, Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, 1989.
   Food Safety in the Beef Cattle Industry, Harlan D. Ritchie, Michigan State University
   The LaCosta Conference on "Cattle on the Land: Environmental Implications of Beef Production, 1990.
3. Report on Regulatory Program for Drug and Pesticide Residues in Meat and Poultry, 1989.
4. Richard L. Carnevale, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 1990.
   Food Safety and Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture
   Subtherapeutic Use of Antibiotics in Fed Animals Reviewed, Food & Drug Administration, 1989.
5. Kaplan, Sheila, "Something to Crow About," Legal Times, Aug. 14, 1989, p. 1.
6. http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/home/7197food.html