This is a very helpful article about inertia and denial over ST398 in the USA.
Nevertheless, the FDA and USDA eagerly pointed to a group called the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System as the protector of humans from bacteria in food.
The coalition of scientists from several federal agencies primarily target salmonella, campylobacter and E. coli.
However, according to USDA’s Goldman, the group does not screen for MRSA.
The National Pork Producers Council said there is no cause for concern.
“There is nothing to worry about; MRSA (in pigs) has not been found this side of the border,” a spokeswoman said. “USDA and CDC have given our pigs a clean bill of health.”
A CDC spokeswoman said that she could find “no indication we made that statement.”
According to congressional investigators, the pork lobbyists have said their industry would oppose any attempt to test all livestock for MRSA, calling the testing “unnecessary to protect public health.”
Some members of Congress are insisting that the government do more to determine MRSA’s threat to the food supply.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, warned last week that there is “overwhelming evidence” that the overuse of antibiotics in industrial livestock production is endangering the effectiveness of many of the most crucial antibiotics for humans.
Pigsite: Potentially fatal bacteria found in pigs, farmworkers.
