Have you noticed that more supermarkets and restaurants are selling chicken that's free of antibiotics and hormones? A new study is likely to fuel this trend and may make you decide to buy this kind of fowl if you haven't already.
The study, reported on by Environmental Health Perspectives, found that poultry farms that transitioned to organic practices and ceased using antibiotics had significantly lower levels of Enterococcus bacteria that were resistant to antibiotics such as penicillin, tetracycline, erythromycin and others. The research team compared 10 conventional and 10 newly organic poultry houses in 2008.
The researchers were surprised to see such signficant differences across various classes of antibiotics even in the first flock produced using organic standards, the study's lead researcher, Dr. Amy R. Sapkota, told Triple Pundit.
The research team found that at conventional poultry farms, 42 percent of one form of Enterococcus bacteria -- Enterococcus faecalis, which can cause life-threatening infections in humans especially in hospital environments -- were multi-drug resistant compared to 10% from newly organic houses. They also found that at conventional farms, 84% of another form of the bacteria -- Enterococcus faecium, which can cause diseases such as neonatal meningitis -- were multi-drug resistant compared to 17% from newly organic poultry houses.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a major health problem because they cause superbug illnesses that can't be treated conventionally, making it more difficult for sufferers to get well. We certainly don't need a food supply that might decrease our chances of recovering from serious illnesses.