1. seed
  2. Fresh Meat, Fresh Data

Fresh Meat, Fresh Data

By milhayser on February 2, 2012.

Posted to the homepage on January 20, 2012

On Aetiology, Tara C. Smith shares the results of her latest study into methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. She and her team "looked at not only conventional meats, but also 'alternative' meat products" labeled "raised without antibiotics" or "raised without antibiotic growth promotants." Smith writes, "In our previous paper, we found MRSA on 1.2% of 165 meat samples. In the current study, we found a higher prevalence—6.6% of 395 samples were contaminated with MRSA." She believes the current, higher number more accurately reflects the prevalence of MRSA in pork, due to a new sampling method (and not a rise in contamination). Overall, the study "didn't find a statistically significant difference in MRSA prevalence on conventional versus alternative pork products," and of the several strains isolated, "76.9% were resistant to two or more antibiotics and 38.5% were resistant to three or more antibiotics tested." In short, make sure to cook your ham. Meanwhile, on Uncertain Principles, Chad Orzel explains how to visually present the kind of numerical data gathered in the MRSA study. Orzel asks, "Are you just comparing two numbers? Looking at how some property changes over time? Trying to characterize a distribution of numbers?" There's a graphic for every scenario.

Tags
data visualization
MRSA

More like this

MRSA in pork products: does the "antibiotic-free" label make a difference?
Back in November, I blogged about one of our studies, examining methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Iowa meat products. In that post, I mentioned that it was one of two studies we'd finished on the subject. Well, today the second study is out in PLoS ONE (freely available to all…
MRSA found in Iowa meat
I've blogged previously on a few U.S. studies which investigated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in raw meat products (including chicken, beef, turkey, and pork). This isn't just a casual observation as one who eats food--I follow this area closely as we also have done our own pair of…
MRSA, Meat, and Motown
It's been not even a month since the last paper looking at MRSA in meat, and up pops another one. So far here in the US, we've seen studies in Rhode Island (no MRSA found); Louisiana (MRSA found in beef and pork, but "human" types: USA100 and USA300); the recent Waters et al study sampling in…
MRSA in pigs and pig farmers
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is very difficult to kill. This notorious "superbug" can withstand a broad and growing range of antibiotics, and is the leading cause of hospital infections in many countries. But it's not restricted to hospitals. According to studies coming in…