They have found "resistant bacteria" and "fecal germs" in LIDL chicken. It is much less serious than it seems

In recent days, several media outlets have echoed a European study on the existence of pathogenic agents resistant to antibiotics in chicken from the Lidl supermarket chain. Up to 71% of the samples, in the Spanish case. These types of studies are striking and very easy to manipulate; but, in reality, they do not change at all what we know about food security in the European Union. Nor, of course, what we have to do when we cook.

Let’s see why

What has happened? The results of a European report which has analyzed 142 chicken products in 22 Lidl stores in Spain, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Poland. In 2023 A similar report has already been published. focused only on Germany.

What does the report say? According to the report’s conclusions, 50% of the 142 samples had “antibiotic-resistant bacteria” and 74% “fecal germs.” In the Spanish case, the number increases to 71% for multiresistant bacteria and up to 83% for E.coli and other related microorganisms.

In addition to that, they have found listeria in 38% of the Spanish samples and campylobacter (related to gastrointestinal problems) in 83%. Salmonella has been found in Spain.

Is it reliable? In the case of reports, financing is provided by animal rights organizations or dedicated to promoting animal welfare Therefore, it is legitimate to ask about possible conflicts of interest that may exist. However, what is important here is not the scientific aspect, but the communicative one.

For two reasons: the first is that, in principle, the technical part has been carried out by an independent laboratory accredited by DAkkS and there are no apparent reasons to doubt the results. The second is that they are not surprising at all.

How is that not surprising? Obviously, the presence of this type of bacteria in chicken is not desirable. But as happened when we talked about the positive result for the hepatitis A virus in some Moroccan strawberries a few months ago, it is undoubtedly less serious than it seems.

On the one hand, we have a very extensive database of data on alerts and diseases that makes it clear to us that there is no potential public health problem here. Let us remember that the chicken that has been analyzed is “raw” and that, to be consumed, it has to be cooked.

None of these bacteria (or any other type) survive the preparation process: an important series of risk behaviors would have to be chained together for the bacteria to cause a health problem — regardless of whether they are resistant to antibiotics or not.

So… shouldn’t we give it importance? It is not that either. The food industry is regulatory bound by more and more safety processes to reduce possible problems that arise. There is no doubt that we must aim for better systems that increasingly reduce the possibility of food poisoning or infections.

However, these reports are designed with the declared (and, moreover, legitimate) intention of generating a certain climate of opinion. We should not shy away from that because it is a key element of the debate.

But we’re talking about “antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” right? We have already seen that there are what they call “fecal germs”, something that can also occur with plant products and something we have been working on for decades. That there are “antibiotic-resistant bacteria”, on the other hand, is something that will become more and more common because, unfortunately, there are more and more of them (and they are everywhere).

If you want to give the impression that this presence is due to the use of antibiotics in the meat we buy, we only have to repeat once again that practices of this type are illegal and, in any case, extremely rare. Of the 123,000 samples Of meat examined by the European Food Safety Authority for antibiotics only 239 did not meet legal requirements. That’s 0.18%.

What can we do then? The same thing we should be doing already. It is worth remembering that up to 60% of food poisoning They occur in the home itself. So it makes perfect sense for us to implement safe practices when storing, handling and preparing food.

These practices are divided into two blocks: the first is to acquire foods that are hygienically safe. “To ensure that this is the case, you must go to establishments that have the relevant health controls and that the food comes from industries that are authorized and registered. […] with the corresponding labeling”, The Galician Health Service explained to us.

The second block is cooking safely. As Gemma del Caño explained a few years agothe measures are simple: cook food well, clean hands and surfaces, never wash chicken and keep all foods well refrigerated (and do not mix raw and cooked foods).

Image | Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine

In Xataka | The meat we consume is safe no matter what the UN Twitter account says. And no, it does not have antibiotics