Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 4/14/15


The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that its latest figures show that resistance levels to foodborne pathogens are declining in animal products destined for consumer plates.

The agency’s 2012 Retail Meat Report is conducted with the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) and covers the resistance among foodborne bacteria. The system involves reports of bacterial counts collected from humans, various proteins available at retail and food animals.

Although current cephalosporin resistance levels were above 2002 levels, a recent decrease in third-generation cephalosporin resistance among poultry meats continued in 2012 and 2013, the report noted. Resistance in salmonella from retail chicken declined from a peak of 38 percent in 2009 to 28 percent in 2012 and continued to decline to 20 percent in 2013. Resistance in ground turkey peaked in 2011 at 22 percent and declined to 18 percent in 2012 and fell to 9 percent in 2013.

The agency – which also released a report on antimicrobial sales on Friday — said it has not seen consistent changes in fluoroquinolone resistance among C. jejuni and C. coli in retail chicken since the FDA withdrew its approval for fluoroquinolones in poultry 10 years ago.

"NCC is pleased to see many positive trends in the data continue, including a decrease in resistance in several foodborne pathogens, and that first-line antibiotics remain effective in treating illnesses," said Ashley Peterson, National Chicken Council vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs.  "Analyzing resistance patterns, as these reports do, is much more meaningful to public health outcomes than examining antibiotic sales data.  These reports provide a strong case that the continued judicious use of antibiotics by poultry and livestock producers is aiding in the reduction of resistance in various foodborne pathogens.”

The Animal Health Institute issued a statement saying the report shows encouraging progress, noting resistance in Salmonella from poultry shows declines and overall, multi-drug resistance in Salmonella continues the long-term downward trend.

While the Centers for Disease Control has listed 18 specific pathogens of great concern in the United States, only two of those – Salmonella and Campylobacter – were linked to animals by the CDC.

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