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Chicken meat is often burdened with multidrug-resistant germs
Foods are always harmful to bacteria. As a request from the Greens now shows, stick to chicken meat from the supermarket often germs that are resistant to several antibiotics. Two out of three samples were contaminated in one study.
Two out of three meat samples contaminated
In recent years, numerous food scandals have caused a stir in which harmful bacteria were found in the food. As news agency AFP reports, multidrug-resistant bacteria often stick to fresh chicken from the supermarket. This emerges from an answer of the black-red federal government to a request from the Greens, about which the news magazine "Der Spiegel" reports. According to the data, 95 out of 144 tested meat samples in 2013 were contaminated with ESBL germs, ie about two out of three samples.
More and more antibiotic-resistant germs are found in samples. (Image: Alexander Raths / fotolia) In sick people, the germs can be dangerous
ESBL stands for Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamases. These germs are enzymes formed by the bacteria, which can cleave many beta-lactam antibiotics with a broad spectrum of activity such as penicillin and cephalosporins and thus make it ineffective. In particular, the intestines, urinary tract and upper respiratory tract can be populated with ESBL images - without making them ill. In healthy people, the germs, which are usually not particularly aggressive, have no major impact, but in sick or weakened individuals, the relatively harmless bacteria can be dangerous.
Meat preparation under "highest safety aspects"
The agricultural policy spokesman of the Greens in the Bundestag, Friedrich Ostendorff, said that the result reflects a "serious problem". Under "highest safety aspects" must take place the preparation of chicken meat. Consumers would have to pay particular attention in the private sector on hygiene and meat, for example, do not prepare on wooden boards in which the germs could easily settle. On the one hand, Ostendorff criticized the growers and their strong use of antibiotics in rearing, on the other hand, the large slaughterhouses. Thus, studies have shown that poultry meat after slaughtering is more contaminated with germs than before. It needs both in rearing and slaughter "much more sensitivity" for the topic, said Ostendorff. The industry must generally "think more".
Turkey meat from the discounter charged
For years, reports of dangerous bacteria in food have been reported repeatedly. Only at the beginning of the year did the German Federal Agency for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) prove in a study of turkey meat from the discounter in almost 90 percent of cases strongly antibiotic-resistant germs. For the study, fresh packaged turkey meat was purchased from Aldi, Lidl, Real, Netto and Penny and tested in the laboratory. This was found in many cases with MRSA germs (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) as well as with ESBL. In people with a weakened immune system, infection can cause symptoms such as inflammation, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting and blood poisoning.
Take precautions
Consumer advocates and health experts advise that meat should always be thoroughly cooked to kill the pathogens. Raw meat should be washed off before cooking and dried with kitchen paper. In addition, poultry should not be prepared in the microwave, since the irregular heat distribution is not guaranteed that all germs are killed. This has the consumer center Hamburg pointed. Raw meat should never be cut with the same knife as cooked meat or vegetables. After contact with meat, cutlery and dishes should be washed carefully. To emphasize again and again: Washing hands is the most important hygiene rule. (Ad)