{"id":3626,"date":"2023-05-12T00:45:28","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T17:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/bacteria-and-kosher-and-organic-chicken\/"},"modified":"2023-05-12T00:45:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T17:45:28","slug":"bacteria-and-kosher-and-organic-chicken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=3626","title":{"rendered":"Bacteria and Kosher and Organic Chicken"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>How do contamination rates for antibiotic-resistant <em>E. coli<\/em> and ExPEC bacteria that cause urinary tract infections compare in kosher chicken versus organic chicken?<\/p>\n<p>Millions of Americans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/23508293\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">come<\/a> down with bladder infections or urinary tract infections every year, including more than a million children. Most cases stay in the bladder, but when the bacteria creep up into the kidneys or get into the bloodstream, things can get serious. Thankfully, we have antibiotics, but there <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/28638846\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">is<\/a> now a pandemic of a new multidrug-resistant strain of <em>E. coli<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/28638846\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Discovered<\/a> in 2008, this so-called ST131 strain has gone from being unknown to now being a leading cause of bladder infections the world over and is even resistant to some of our second- and third-line antibiotics. What\u2019s more, it\u2019s been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/28062464\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">found<\/a> in retail chicken breasts sampled from across the country, \u201cdocument[ing] a persisting reservoir of extensively antimicrobial-resistant ExPEC isolates,\u201d or bacteria\u2014that is, the extra-intestinal pathogenic <em>E. coli<\/em>, including the ST131 strain\u2014\u201cin retail chicken products in the United States, suggesting a potential public health threat.\u201d I discuss this in my video <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/friday-favorites-what-about-kosher-and-organic-chicken\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Friday Favorites: <\/strong><strong>What About Kosher and Organic Chicken?<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Urinary tract infections may <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/23508293\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">be<\/a> foodborne, predominantly from eating poultry, such as chicken or turkey, so maybe we shouldn\u2019t be feeding antibiotics to these animals by the <em>tons<\/em> in poultry production. Hold on. Foodborne bladder infections? What are you doing with that drumstick? Indeed, <em>eating<\/em> contaminated chicken can lead to the colonization of the rectum with these bacteria that can then, even months later, crawl up into the bladder to cause an infection.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe problem of increasing AMR [anti-microbial resistance] is so dire that some experts are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/26493846\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">predicting<\/a> that the era of antibiotics may be coming to an end, ushering in a post-antibiotic era\u2026in which common infections and minor injuries can kill\u201d once again. More than 80 percent of <em>E. coli<\/em> isolated from beef, pork, and poultry <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/15747234\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">exhibited<\/a> resistance to at least one antibiotic, and more than half isolated from poultry were resistant to five different drugs. One of the ways this happens is that viruses, called bacteriophages, can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/25934615\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transfer<\/a> antibiotic-resistant genes between bacteria. About a quarter of these viruses isolated from chicken were found to be able to transduce antibiotic drug resistance into <em>E. coli<\/em>. And one of the big problems with this is that \u201cdisinfectants used to kill bacteria are, in many cases, not able to eliminate bacteriophages,\u201d these viruses. Some of these viruses are even resistant to bleach at the kinds of concentrations used in the food industry; likewise, alcohol, which is found in many hand sanitizers, is also unable to harm most of them.<\/p>\n<p>The irony is that the industry has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/28453774\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tried<\/a> to intentionally feed these viruses to chickens. Why would it do that? They can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/28485263\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">boost<\/a> egg production in hens and increase bodyweight gain in broiler (meat-type) chickens to get them to slaughter weight faster. The only thing that seems to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/26015590\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dissuade<\/a> the industry is any practice that affects the taste of the meat. That\u2019s why the industry stopped <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/17737972\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">spraying<\/a> chickens with benzene to try to kill off all of the parasites. The meat ended up with a \u201cdistasteful flavor,\u201d described as \u201cstrong, acidic, musty, medicinal, biting, objectionable, and good.\u201d <em>Good?!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>What about organic chicken? For another type of bacteria, <em>Enterococcus<\/em>, antibiotic-resistant bugs were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/25836402\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">found<\/a> in both conventional and organically raised chicken but were less common in organic. A study found that only about one in three organic chickens were contaminated with drug-resistant bugs compared to nearly one in two conventionally raised birds. But in a study of hundreds of prepackaged retail chicken breasts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/25405393\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tested<\/a> from 99 grocery stores, carrying the organic or antibiotic-free label did not seem to impact the contamination levels of antibiotic-resistant <em>E. coli<\/em> from fresh retail chicken. Purchasing meat from natural food stores <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/15747237\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appeared<\/a> to be safer, however, regardless of how it was labeled.<\/p>\n<p>Kosher chicken\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/24555073\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/24555073&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1678806875468000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0StDzakbYoS-2iHJInFs1A\">tested<\/a> to be the worst, with nearly twice the level of antibiotic-resistant <em>E. coli<\/em> contamination compared to conventional chicken, which goes against the whole concept of kosher. As you can see i<span class=\"notion-enable-hover\" data-token-index=\"0\" data-reactroot=\"\">n the graph below and <\/span>at 4:17 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/what-about-kosher-and-organic-chicken\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a>, there <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/24555073\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was<\/a> no difference in drug resistance between the <em>E. coli<\/em> swabbed from conventionally raised chickens versus chickens raised organically and without antibiotics, but, either way, kosher chicken tested worse. But how could organic and raised-without-antibiotics chickens not be better? Well, it could be cross-contamination at the slaughter plants, so bugs just jump from one chicken carcass to the next.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-91516\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/4-17.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/4-17.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/4-17-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/4-17-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/4-17-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/4-17-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/4-17-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/4-17-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/4-17-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/4-17-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Or it could be the organic chicken loophole. USDA organic standards <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/23508293\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prohibit<\/a> the use of antibiotics in poultry starting on day <em>two<\/em> of the animal\u2019s life. \u201cThis is an important loophole\u201d because even antibiotics \u201cconsidered critical for human health\u201d are routinely injected into <em>one<\/em>-day-old chicks and eggs, which has been directly associated with antibiotic-resistant foodborne infections.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s more, there <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/28062464\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was<\/a> no difference in the presence of ExPEC bacteria\u2014the bacteria <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/28062464\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">implicated<\/a> in urinary tract infections\u2014between organic and conventional chicken. \u201cThese findings suggest that retail chicken products in the United States, even if they are labeled \u2018organic,\u2019 pose a potential health threat to consumers because they are contaminated with extensively antibiotic-resistant and, presumably, virulent <em>E. coli<\/em> isolates.\u201d Indeed, even if we were able to get the poultry industry to stop using antibiotics, the contamination of chicken meat with ExPEC bacteria could still remain a threat.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"et_social_bottom_trigger\"\/>  <\/div>\n<p><script>\n            !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n            {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n                n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n            if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n            n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n            t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n            s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n                'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n            fbq('init', '1582627921973608');\n            fbq('track', 'PageView');\n        <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1675549\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do contamination rates for antibiotic-resistant E. coli and ExPEC bacteria that cause urinary tract infections compare in kosher chicken versus organic chicken? Millions of Americans come down with bladder infections or urinary tract infections every year, including more than a million children. Most cases stay in the bladder, but when the bacteria creep up &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}