FDA Responds To EWG “Superbugs” On Meat Report

In Forbes (4/22, 928K), contributor Beth Hoffman published a response from the FDA regarding a recently released report by the Environmental Working Group “on the presence of ‘superbugs’ on meat products in grocery stores” that she covered. 

FDA Spokesperson Jalil Isa wrote that the EWG report “oversimplifies the NARMS data. EWG’s evaluation of the NARMS findings does not take into account important differences between various forms of bacteria and antibiotics. The EWG report cites some pathogens that don’t lead to food-borne illnesses or focuses on resistance to antibiotics that are not commonly used to treat sick people. .... The numbers cited are also misleading. We do not believe that EWG fully considered important factors that put these results in context: whether the bacterium is a foodborne pathogen (Enterococcus is not considered a foodborne pathogen), which drug(s) the bacterium are resistant to (for example, most Enterococcusfaecalis is naturally resistant to the antibiotic class of lincosamides), and whether the main therapies for the pathogen are still effective (NARMS data indicates that first-line treatments are still effective).”