Some of the supermarkets in the UK are selling pork infected with a potentially fatal superbug, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Guardian in a joint investigation report claimed.
According to the report, tests found that more than 10 percent of sampled pork products, including joints, chops and mince, were infected with a bacteria that has showed resistance to a “last resort” antibiotic used to treat serious illnesses in humans. The contaminated products included some pork sold under the “Red Tractor assured” label and RSPCA-assured and organic products.
The superbug is a variant of the enterococci bacteria that can cause urinary tract and wound infections, among other illnesses. In the most serious cases, the bacteria can infect the bloodstream, heart and brain.
Drug-resistant strains of enterococci disease are a significant health concern, with rates known to be rising across Europe.
Antibiotics are widely used in livestock production to treat and prevent disease, particularly on factory farms where pigs and poultry have often been reared in overcrowded conditions in which bacteria can flourish. These farms can act as incubators for potentially fatal drug-resistant diseases in humans.
Antibiotic resistance is considered one of the world’s biggest public health threats. A major UK government review on AMR in 2016 estimated that superbugs kill at least 700,000 people worldwide every year – which could rise to 10 million extra deaths by 2050 if no action is taken.
The new testing, shared exclusively with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Guardian, suggests the enterococci superbug is more widespread in UK meat than previously thought. A government survey, published in 2018, found it in just one in 100 pork and poultry items tested.
Experts said the “worrying” revelations reinforced the need for more surveillance.
Tim Lang, professor emeritus of food policy at City, University of London, said: “These findings suggest that antibiotic use is by no means under control in parts of the meat industry. Buying any food is a trust relationship; no consumers have X-ray specs to see what these findings show. There’s no label”.
In response, a spokesperson for Red Tractor said its certified pig farms are required to use antibiotics responsibly, under the direction of a vet.
The RSPCA said: “As an animal welfare organization, we hope and would expect to see that higher welfare systems would require lower antimicrobial use which, in turn, would lower the risk of developing antimicrobial resistance. This would improve the lives of farm animals as well as safeguarding human health”.
Gareth Morgan, head of farming policy at the Soil Association, said: “Lower levels of antibiotic resistance in the organic produce can be explained by the very strong restrictions on antibiotic use in organic farming”.
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate, the government department responsible for antibiotic use on farms, said in a statement: “We are committed to reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals and it remains our intention to strengthen our national law in this area”.
In what is believed to be the first UK study of its kind, the campaign group World Animal Protection commissioned Fera Science to examine the
prevalence of antibiotic-resistant enterococci in pork produced under three different food assurance schemes as well as non-assured products.
Researchers bought 103 pork samples – 22 labelled as Red Tractor, 27 each from RSPCA and organic schemes, and 27 with no assurance label – from Yorkshire supermarkets and online shops. All were from British farms, except for products carrying no assurance label.
