Spain: multidrug-resistant E. coli found in 40% of meat products

A group of researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela-Lugo, Lugo, Spain, together with colleagues from other research centers, discovered multidrug-resistant E. coli in 40% of meat samples analyzed.

The authors of the study designed a series of experiments to assess the levels of multidrug-resistant and extraintestinal pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae (Klebsiella pneumoniae, E. coli and other bacteria that can cause multidrug-resistant infections such as sepsis or urinary tract infections) in different types of meat collected at random from supermarkets in Oviedo, Spain, in 2020.    

The researchers analyzed 100 meat products comprised of chicken, turkey, beef, and pork (25 samples each). The majority (73%) of the samples contained levels of E. coli that were within food safety limits. However, almost half contained multidrug-resistant and/or potentially pathogenic E. coli. The percentage of positive samples for E. coli per meat type was 68% turkey, 56% chicken, 16% beef and 12% pork. According to the researchers, higher presence in poultry compared to other types of meat is “likely due to differences in production and slaughter”.