Consumers Union has released its third annual “Chain Reaction” report on the prevalence of antibiotics in meat products in America’s most popular chain restaurants. Sadly, the results show most of the restaurants have failed to improve, even in the face of drug-resistant superbugs. The rankings are based on each companies’ own policies for the use of antibiotic in meat and poultry products that they buy. Pumping chickens, cows and pigs full of antibiotics intended for humans is slowly destroying our ability to treat common infections. The U.N. has called it a growing concern and potential global health crisis. More than 23,000 people die annually in the U.S. from antibiotic-resistant infections each year, according the the CDC. To combat this problem, doctors and hospitals use antibiotics more judiciously than in the past, yet 70 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. aren’t intended for human use anyway, but rather in animal agriculture. “The nation’s fast food restaurant chains are…
Multi-state Salmonella outbreak linked to papayas sickens more than 200
A recent string of salmonella outbreaks may bring an early end to tropical summer fruit salads. Federal officials verified they have linked four separate salmonella outbreaks — totaling 215 illnesses — in recent months to papayas imported from Mexico. The outbreaks were reported from 26 different states. The majority of the outbreaks were initially concentrated in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and the South with New Jersey, Virginia and Texas reporting the highest number of instances. The salmonella scare has since spread to Arizona, Colorado and California. One Californian recently died, bringing the death toll to two. The other, a New Yorker, died after contracting salmonella in July. One California-based producer, Bravo Produce, issued a papaya recall after investigators traced bacteria to shipments from Tijuana. As standard procedure and in accordance with confidentiality laws, the FDA wouldn’t release the names if the retailers who sold the problematic produce. Instead, consumers are left to check their…