While some businesses, political representatives, and members of the medical community are taking preventive and proactive steps to stop these dangerous and costly infections, patients and consumers can take antibiotic stewardship into their own hands by making informed decisions at the grocery store, at home, and at the doctor’s office.

These microscopic “superbugs” sicken up to 2 million Americans a year and kill at least 23,000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Repeated, improper use of antibiotics—in both humans and animals—drives drug resistance among bacteria and has made some forms of bacteria virtually indestructible to modern medicine.

Consumers speak the loudest with their dollars.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are given to food animals for growth promotion and disease prevention.

Antibiotics are the only kinds of drugs whose use by one life form affects the health of another, and the more they’re used, the less effective they become.

The regular administration of antibiotics in low doses—such as the way they are given to livestock and poultry in their feed and water—gives bacteria ample experience to evolve around them. These bacteria survive in the animals’ bodies and are still present when their meat makes it into stores.

About 48 million people get food poisoning each year, and some bacteria found on raw meat can be deadly. Last year, the FDA announced drug-resistant bacterial contamination in 81 percent of ground turkey, 69 percent of pork chops, 55 percent of ground beef, and 39 percent of chicken sampled in grocery stores.

Every time you shop for meat at your neighborhood grocer, you could make a decision that can interrupt this process: You can help protect yourself by choosing antibiotic-free meats, which are available in more grocery stores and restaurants than ever before.

Chains such as Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Kroger, Costco, and Safeway offer antibiotic-free meats. If you can’t find them at your neighborhood store, ask the grocer to consider carrying these items.

Avoid meat from factory farms that rely on antibiotics to make up for cramped, unsanitary conditions—a practice that can lead to antibiotic resistance. For example, Foster Farms chickens raised this way carried multidrug-resistant Salmonella that sickened 574 people last year .

But buyer beware: Much like the term “all natural,” many antibiotic-related statements on packaging can be misleading or are undefined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service lists “no antibiotics added” as an acceptable term for meat and poultry labels. The term may be used on labels “for meat or poultry products if sufficient documentation is provided by the producer to the Agency demonstrating that the animals were raised without antibiotics.”

Concerned with antibiotic-related labeling, Consumers Union—Consumer Reports’ advocacy arm—sent a letter to Tom Vilsack, head of the USDA, for clarifications regarding certain claims found on food packaging, such as “No Antibiotic Growth Promotants,” “Antibiotic Free,” and “No Antibiotic Residues.” Vilsack responded that “raised without antibiotics” means no antibiotics were used in the animal’s feed or water, or via injections, over the course of its life.

Washing your hands often while preparing food and always after handling raw meat, to avoid cross-contamination between uncooked meat and other foods, can also help reduce your risk of getting sick.