Originally published at Natural Blaze
By Heather Callaghan
There is a dizzying and vicious cycle of the overuse of antibiotics in meat production.
Animals make up over three quarters of antibiotic use which has helped create a public health crisis.
We are now on third-generation drugs that are not combating the bacteria they were designed to eradicate.
Resistant bacteria is even found in antibiotic-free meats. Now, multiple drug-resistant bacteria is contaminating organic chicken – but how? And how do we avoid exposure? Especially for those who cannot or choose not to eliminate meat from their diet.
Dr. Greger describes above some reasons why organic chicken is now tainted with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. One reason is the sheer amount of waste run-off from farms. But the information somewhat ends there.
The punchline at the end of the video shows not only how far consumers and store employees have become removed from food sources, but also just how hard it is to avoid serious pathogens in store-bought meats.
Cattle and poultry stand a better chance to withstand disease if they are being fed their native diets. Respectively, grass and bugs. Not grains! Not genetically modified grains and soy. Unfortunately, even organic companies continue to feed their animals grain, calling the products vegetarian-fed. One result is an overload of Omega-6 fatty acid which leads to chronic inflammation and disease in both the animals and human consumption.
Organic doesn’t necessarily mean better when it comes to meats – for one thing, animal treatment is highly questionable. For instance, when egg cartons say “Cage-free” or “Free-range.” Doubtful. The more small-scale and local – as in, your neighbor who raises chickens and harvests their eggs – the less likely they will be contaminated.
The best way eat the cleanest meats is to get closer to your farmer. Really close. Almost snuggling.
Heather Callaghan is a natural health blogger and food freedom activist. You can see her work at NaturalBlaze.com and ActivistPost.com. Like at Facebook.
I wonder what the future holds for food in this country. I wonder about it a lot.
I believe commercial farming is collapsing into just a few mega farms and the products produced there seem more and more to be running afoul of the people that use them in any number of ways, whether that’s the treatment of the animals, what those animals are fed, how their processed, antibiotics, hormones, GMO, chemically produced fertilizers instead of natural, etc.
While Americans enjoy spending the least percentage of their money on food (I believe it’s in the 30% range whereas some in the world pay 60%), I suspect a growing percentage would willingly pay more to know what’s in it, and that means more and more local producers.
So where does that lead us? Are we going to return to a high tech version of family run agriculture that was predominant in 19th Century America or is the trend of conglomeration going to continue???
I think I’ve mentioned this before on this site.
My husband developed an allergy to beef. He has the classic symptoms of antibiotic allergy like hives and itching and the last time he was in the ER unable to breathe. He actually passed out on the bedroom floor because he couldn’t catch his breath.
We were lucky and able to trace his problem to beef and he has stopped eating it.
We live where hunting is very prevalent. So, we have a substitute.
TC –
My daughter has a somewhat similar issue. She is allergic to eggs…but only the commercial, grocery store eggs. She can eat eggs from home-raised organically fed chickens with no problem at all. If she eats a baked good out that contains egg, we have to give her antihistamines for days to get the hives under control.
This is such a clear-cut case for local, organic foods!
Daisy