The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is tightening up regulations on the marketing and labeling of so-called “medically important antimicrobials” used on food animals. Such a move has long been sought by those concerned about how overuse of such drugs can lead to antibiotic resistance and threaten public health. In recent weeks, the antibiotic-resistant…
Action in California and the Marketplace Will Help Stop Superbugs
Noodles & Co. and California Gov. Jerry Brown have this in common: In the absence of a strong federal policy, both have acted to stop the overuse of antibiotics on large-scale industrial farms.
On Oct. 10, Brown signed a first-of-its-kind law (Senate Bill 27) to restrict antibiotic use on livestock and poultry, but his role …
Consumer Reports’ Ground Beef Study Elicits Differing Interpretations
With its newly released study, Consumer Reports is arguing that ground beef from sustainably raised cows is safer than that from conventionally raised ones. Industry, however, says that the study shows low levels of pathogens in meat. 
The consumer organization tested ground beef samples for bacteria and found that all of it contained bacteria…
Superbugs and Other Nonsense
In a recent Consumer Reports article entitled, “The high cost of cheap chicken,” CR stated, “our tests reveal that superbugs can be found in about half of the chicken we tested.” Consumer Reports is claiming that a bacterium resistant to three or more antibiotics is a “superbug,” but nothing could be further from the truth…