Ground Turkey Found to Contain Fecal Bacteria

Consumer Reports recently released the results of a nationwide test of raw ground turkey packages and patties from a number of processors and retailers. About 90 percent of the 257 samples had at least one of five bacteria strains researchers were testing for. The two most frequent strains––present in more than half of the meat samples––were E. coli and enterococcus, which are also found in fecal matter, and nearly all of the samples contained antibiotic resistant superbugs. Mother Jones reports that turkey supplier Cargill attempted to resolve multiple salmonella outbreaks over the last two years by increasing antibacterial washes used on the meat, and that 80 percent of antibiotics in the US go to agriculture.