Here’s something nobody wants to hear about their favorite steak. A study found that most raw pork products in US supermarkets are contaminated with bacteria called Yersinia, a food-borne pathogen that is responsible for the infection of more than 100,000 Americans each year.
Yersinia is a bacteria that causes a common bacterial infection of the intestines. In humans the condition is known as Y. enterocolitca infection and brings on symptoms such as water or bloody diarrhea and fever. Some infections are often mistaken as appendicitis. One of the most common causes of infection is eating improperly cooked pork meat. A study brings concerning news: most of the raw pork products in United States are contaminated with a bacteria that wasn’t even being monitored.
Consumer Reports tested the same raw pork products you and many other millions buy each day from a supermarket nearby. Out of the 148 pork chops and 50 ground pork samples tested, more than half tested positive for the hazardous bacteria. Add to the 69% of Yersinia contaminated pork meat, another 11% that tested positive for enterococcus. The meat is contaminated with fecal matter that causes urinary-tract infections when in the digestive system. Although not in such a significant percentage, the pork meat also tested positive for salmonella and listeria contamination, 4 and 3 percent.
“The results were concerning” said Urvashi Rangan, one of the researchers in the study. “It’s hard to say that there was no problem. It shows that there needs to be better hygiene at animal plants. Yersinia wasn’t even being monitored for” he told ABC News about findings that should make you look at your pork with different eyes.
The Pork Producer’s Council says that the Consumer Reports’ study isn’t accurate because it does “not provide a nationally informative estimate of the true prevalence of the cited bacteria on meat”. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is saying that the findings “affirm that companies are meeting the established guidelines for protecting the public’s health”. Hello? 69$ of samples tested positive with a bacteria that causes symptoms such as bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain and fever.
