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.
