Are we exposed to antibiotics in animal meat?
Question
As I understand, there are some concern with too much antibiotics being used in cattle and so on. My question is, can those antibiotics carry over to humans particularly if the meat is cooked? In other words, those cooking in the meat from an animal that's had a bit much antibiotics, does the cooking destroy the antibiotic, or make ineffective in humans, so as we don't inadvertently give the bacteria opportunity for resistance?
Answer
Paul - A lot of antibiotics are heat-labile, so they're destroyed by the cooking process.
But often now there's a lot more regulation in terms of using antibiotics and in veterinary medicines, so there's no overlap with human antibiotics or as little as possible.
Chris - What about the implication of using antibiotics in terms of, it's not just this country, but other countries often put antibiotics into their animals? What are the implications for resistance and the spread of resistant organisms into humans because of that practice?
Paul - There is a lot of evidence to suggest that some of the antibiotic-resistant Staphylococci acquired their resistance mechanisms from related organisms that were found in cattle, possibly due to the use of antibiotics in those animals. However, there's been a lot tighter regulation across the world now, as people realise that this was a possible outcome.
Comments
Political Answers!
the answers to the question are very political and lead to the assumption that manufactures are adhering to the regulation. we're basically hurting ourselves if we are consuming meat which has banned antibiotics or the ones which are not covered by the regulations. please try and provide a more practicable answer
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