How to Prevent the Spread of Drug-Resistant Bacteria in Your Kitchen

April 30, 2014

Story at-a-glance

  • Two million American adults and children become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year. At least 23,000 of them die as a direct result of those infections
  • According to the CDC, as many as 22 percent of antibiotic-resistant illness in humans is linked to food, and research has shown that nearly half of all meats sold in the US harbor drug-resistant bacteria
  • These drug-resistant bacteria can easily spread during food preparation, via cutting boards, kitchen counters, and plastic gloves used during food preparation
  • To avoid cross-contamination with other foods and spread of potentially harmful bacteria, use a designated cutting board for raw meat and poultry, and never use this board for other food preparation
  • Triclosan, a potent antibacterial agent found in many soaps and detergents, is also spurring the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and is therefore best avoided

By Dr. Mercola

According to a report1 by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), published in October 2013, two million American adults and children become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year. At least 23,000 of them die as a direct result of those infections, and even more die from complications.2  

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has repeatedly ignored the elephant in the room when it comes to the promulgation of antibiotic-resistant disease, namely modern factory farming practices where antibiotics are routinely fed to animals to promote growth.

Despite the fact that both penicillin and tetracyclines are used in human medicine, about half of the total sales for these two antibiotics end up in animal feed.

All in all, an estimated 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the US end up in livestock. Needless to say, the impact of agricultural antibiotics on human disease is quite significant and cannot be ignored.

Unless you're eating organically raised meats, every piece of meat you eat will give you a small dose of antibiotics, and this low-dosing is a major part of the problem, because when the bacteria are not killed by the antibiotic, they become stronger and develop resistance through mutation.

The CDC has previously concluded that as much as 22 percent of antibiotic-resistant illness in humans is in fact linked to food, and research has shown that nearly half of all meats sold in the US harbor drug-resistant bacteria!

Most of the meat sold in American grocery stores and restaurants comes from confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), which can house tens of thousands of animals under one roof, in unsanitary, disease-ridden conditions. It's these conditions that allow foodborne pathogens to flourish, and indeed studies have shown that the larger the farm, the greater the chances of contamination.

Your Kitchen May Be a Major Source of Drug-Resistant Pathogens

These drug-resistant bacteria can also easily spread during food preparation. As reported by Reuters,3 cutting boards used to prepare raw poultry can be a major culprit in the spread of drug-resistant bacteria. As noted by Dr. James R. Johnson, an infectious diseases researcher:

"If other foods go on those boards before the boards get cleaned, or even after they're cleaned if the cleaning isn't 100 percent effective, the other foods, which may not get cooked, or not as thoroughly as poultry, likely would get contaminated and so could possibly pose an even higher risk of transmission to humans than the poultry products themselves."

In a recent Swiss study,4 researchers collected cutting boards and discarded plastic gloves from the kitchen in their hospital and private homes around Switzerland, Germany, and France.

The cutting boards were then swabbed for bacteria. In total, 154 cutting boards were collected from the hospital kitchen over the course of 16 months. Ten of them tested positive for antibiotic-resistant E. coli. Of the 144 boards collected from private homes, five of them also tested positive for the harmful bacteria. Of the gloves collected, half were contaminated with drug-resistant bacteria.

In light of these findings, the researchers urge all cooks to carefully wash your hands, and to be mindful of the fact that cutting boards and plastic gloves used during food preparation can be a source of transmission of pathogenic bacteria that can lead to very serious illness.

To avoid cross-contamination with other foods and spread of potentially harmful bacteria, I strongly suggest adhering to the following recommendations:

  • Use a designated cutting board for raw meat and poultry, and never use this board for other food preparation, such as cutting up vegetables. Color coding your cutting boards is a simple way to distinguish between them
  • To sanitize your cutting board, be sure to use hot water and detergent. Simply wiping it off with a rag will not destroy the bacteria
  • For an inexpensive, safe, and effective kitchen counter and cutting board sanitizer, use 3% hydrogen peroxide and vinegar. Keep each liquid in a separate spray bottle, and then spray the surface with one, followed by the other, and wipe off
  • Coconut oil can also be used to clean, treat, and sanitize your wooden cutting boards. It's a powerful destroyer of all kinds of microbes, from viruses to bacteria to protozoa. Olive oil is another alternative. The fats will also help condition the wood

Antibacterial Detergents Can Do More Harm Than Good

More at:  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/04/30/kitchen-drug-resistant-bacteria.aspx

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