The latest data (pdf) from the FDA shows the depth of the crisis of meat production. Not only is meat production one of the greatest contributors (pdf) to climate change and to the epidemic of chronic diseases but it now is shown to contribute to the develop of antibiotic resistance strains of pathogens.

Tom Philpott at Mother Jones details the crisis:



[...] the American Meat Institute reported a 0.2 percent increase in total meat and poultry production in 2011 compared to the previous year, the FDA data show that antibiotic consumption jumped 2 percent over the same time period. That suggests that meat production might be getting more antibiotic-intensive.

Not surprisingly, when you cram animals together by the thousands and dose them daily with antibiotics, the bacteria that live on and in the animals adapt and develop resistance to those bacteria killers. Pew crunched another new set of data, the FDA's latest release of results from its National Antimibrobial Resistance Monitoring System, or NARMS, which buys samples of meat products and subjects them to testing for bacterial pathogens. Again, the results are sobering. Here a a few highlights pointed to by Pew in an email: • Of the Salmonella on ground turkey, about 78% were resistant to at least one antibiotic and half of the bacteria were resistant to three or more. These figures are up compared to 2010. • Nearly three-quarters of the Salmonella found on retail chicken breast were resistant to at least one antibiotic. About 12% of retail chicken breast and ground turkey samples were contaminated with Salmonella. • Resistance to tetracycline [an antibiotic] is up among Campylobacter on retail chicken. About 95% of chicken products were contaminated with Campylobacter, and nearly half of those bacteria were resistant to tetracyclines. This reflects an increase over last year and 2002.

The FDA has instituted a voluntary approach to regulation of antibiotics in animal feed. How's that working out? Well, we should know by now you don't mess with the free market and profit. The meat industry is feasting on antibiotics and sending out product tainted with antibiotic-resistant bugs. Meat production is killing us in many ways..pick your poison.