Superbug MRSA found in British pork

The findings of a new study into retail meat, published in the Guardian on Thursday 18th June have revealed livestock-associated MRSA in British pork. The testing was run by the Alliance to Save our Antibiotics.  

The Alliance to Save our Antibiotics is calling on the major UK supermarkets to take urgent action to reduce antibiotic use in their supply chains.

This is the first time MRSA of livestock origin has been found in British pork. The findings suggest that British consumers are already being exposed to MRSA. In fact, a person eating pork twice a week may be consuming contaminated meat once every three months.

Antibiotic resistance is predicted to cause one million deaths across Europe by 2025. This discovery is the latest warning that overuse of antibiotics on farms is posing a risk to human health.

Other European countries have already witnessed the spread of MRSA through pig herds, and many have now introduced direct testing of pigs. However, the UK Government has not carried out similar testing.

This study, commissioned by the Alliance to Save our Antibiotics and supported by the A Team Foundation, seeks to address this information gap and provide some insight into this critical issue.

Without decisive and immediate action to address antibiotic use on farms, it is now very likely that MRSA will spread quickly throughout the UK pig herd - and into the pork we eat.

 

What is MRSA, and how did it get into our meat?

MRSA is often referred to as a superbug; a bug resistant to nearly all penicillin-type antibiotics. Resistance makes MRSA more difficult to treat, and therefore more dangerous, than non-resistant strains.

Overuse of antibiotics encourages the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria; killing off sensitive bacteria whilst resistant organisms survive. And while efforts are being made to reduce antibiotics in human medicine, there’s less focus on the huge volumes used on our farms.

Nearly 45% of antibiotics in the UK are used in animals, including those classed as ‘critically important’ for humans.

This is fuelling the emergence of bacteria which can pass to humans through direct contact with animals or raw meat, or through the environment. Several European countries report increasing cases of MRSA in people with no direct contact with pigs.

Urgent action is now needed. Overuse of antibiotics in farming is contributing to the critical problem of human antibiotic resistance and enabling the continuation of low-welfare, intensive farming practices.

 

Join the call to action - tell supermarkets to address antibiotic use

It is possible to slow or reverse antibiotic resistance. The Alliance is calling on the major UK retailers to reduce antibiotics in their meat supply chains:

• No modern cephalosporins used in pig production, poultry production or for dry-cow therapy.
• No fluoroquinolones used in poultry
• Producers must demonstrate plans to phase out routine prophylactic on-farm use of antibiotics, and stop all mass medication in feed or drinking water where no disease has been diagnosed in any of the animals

Take action

Visit the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics homepage and retweet on the right and ask supermarkets to make a public commitment to protect consumers from superbugs like MRSA.

Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics homepage

 

The Alliance to Save our Antibiotics is a coalition of health, medical, animal welfare and NGO organisations, including Sustain, and is supported by the Jeremy Coller Foundation. Find out more about the campaign.