Cheap chicken represents major health risk, study finds

The Berlin study on chicken meat samples at large discounts was commissioned by the Germanwatch consumer and environmental protection organization and revealed alarming results: 59 servings of chicken meat purchased from Lidl, Netto, Real, Aldi (North and South) and Penny, or more than both (56%) are contaminated with antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Each fifth sample has several different resistances and more than one-third is contaminated with bacteria resistant to essential antibiotics or essential antibiotics – special antibiotics that must be administered to sick people in an emergency, when d & # 39; Other antibiotics stop working.

"Our samples show alarming levels of resistance to chicken meat, suggesting that the federal government has failed to fight antibiotic resistance from industrial farming," said Reinhild Benning , agricultural expert at Germanwatch.

Agriculture Minister Klöckner has stated that bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and even multidrug-resistant germs [was found] meat for consumer kitchens, restaurants and hospitals. Benning said: "The requirements for the use of reserve antibiotics are far too lax.There are also high-risk gaps in the registration of antibiotic consumption." opens the back door to the misuse of antibiotics in industrial farming in Germany. "

Dr. Gerd Ludwig Meyer, a specialist in internal medicine in Nienburg / Weser, illustrated the risks for consumers and residents: "People can capture germs that are resistant to antibiotics from industrial farming, including through food or food. Animal resistance emissions will only drop once the federal government finally discharges its duty of care and prohibits veterinarians from compensating for the consequences of catastrophic housing conditions and turbulence in the production of animal feed. cheap meat and milk by prescribing antibiotics, "said Meyer.

According to the World Health Organization, about 700,000 people worldwide die each year from infections that are no longer badisted by antibiotics and, according to the Robert Koch Institute, nearly 4,000 people die every year in Germany.

No slaughterhouse company consistently offers uncontaminated chicken meat

Of the five discounters, twelve servings of conventional chicken meat were purchased from each. A Penny sample was damaged during shipping and was not examined. More than 80% of the samples were contaminated at Penny, 75% at Aldi, more than 50% net and a third sample at Lidl and Real. They all belong to the four most profitable slaughterhouse groups in the chicken sector: the PHW Group, the Sprehe Group, Plukon Germany and the Rothkötter Group. None of the slaughterhouses offered unpolluted chicken meat.

Farm butchery meat shows virtually no contamination

In addition, Germanwatch has carried out eleven test purchases in slaughterhouses of farms all over Germany. Here, only one sample of chicken meat contained a seed of MRSA (9%). No resistant pathogen was detected in the six samples of organic chicken meat from artisbad slaughter. These sampling results go in the same direction as the representative controllers of the Federal Office for Consumer Protection (BVL), who also found significantly lower antimicrobial resistance in broiler chickens. organic farms.

Although the use of antibiotics in Germany has halved since 2011, the number of antibiotics administered per kilogram of livestock is still more than twice that of Danish, British or Austrian farms. Germanwatch especially calls for the prohibition of particularly important reserve antibiotics for breeding. In addition, the consumption of veterinary antibiotics must be fully covered, including in the feed industry. With statutory minimum prices for veterinary antibiotics, Minister Klöckner needs to ensure that investing in more animal-friendly housing forms is cheaper than mbad breeding up to then dominant with high antibiotic requirements because it affects a lot more animals and that high consumption promotes training. of resistance.

"The federal government has a special responsibility not only for the health of its population, but also beyond Germany.In the past year alone, nearly a million tons of chicken meat have been exported, "explains Reinhild Benning. "The poultry meat industry is also exporting antibiotic resistance and the badociated health risks, particularly to countries with very fragile health systems."

Germanwatch requires the labeling of the form of livestock on food

Germanwatch requests that the form of preservation be indicated on feed, so that consumers can avoid meat from industrial livestock. "Only a legal tagging system based on egg tagging gives farms the long-term security for investments in animal welfare in the barn," Benning said. Supermarket companies should put an end to competition for the lowest prices. The badociated exploitation of humans and animals generates more and more risks, for which antibiotic resistance is an example.

Note: All samples have been examined by the pharmacy laboratory of Greifswald University on behalf of Germanwatch. This is an exam example. Advanced zoonotic surveillance has been used in tests in anonymized supermarkets and in slaughterhouses to obtain comparable results in resistance testing of chicken meat.your.