Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Consumer Reports finds problems with pork


Consumer Reports magazine has found serious problems with U.S. pork.

Its testing of pork picked up at retail outlets indicates there are high risks of food poisoning and there are some low-level illegal residues.

  • Yersinia enterocolitica was found in 69 percent of the tested pork samples. These lesser-known bacteria are estimated to cause foodborne illness in about 100,000 Americans a year and are associated with pork.

  • Salmonella, staphylococcus aureus, or listeria monocytogenes were found in 3 to 7 percent of samples. Additionally, 11 percent harbored enterococcus, which may indicate fecal contamination and may cause non-foodborne related infections such as urinary-tract infections.

  • Most of the bacteria found were resistant to at least one of the tested antibiotic drugs.

  • Ground pork was more likely than pork chops to harbor pathogens.

  • Very low but detectible levels of ractopamine were found in about one-fifth of the samples tested for the drug. The levels were below U.S. and international limits.

  • What Consumer reports called “misleading and unapproved claims” such as “no antibiotic growth promotants” and “no antibiotic residues” were found on some packages of pork and reported to the USDA for investigation.

  • No labels disclose the use of ractopamine.  Government standards for “no antibiotics used” and “no hormones added” claims do not prohibit the use of ractopamine.